Scholing van werkenden via ICT: deelname, kosten en baten

Life long learning has become an important focus point in social-economic and educational policy. Owing to a number of developments, some supply-driven, others demand-driven, competences tend to become obsolete faster and faster. On the demand side, technology and consumer preferences change more rapidly then they used to do. The process of globalisation of the economy continues. Partly in response to these developments, companies adapt their organisational structure. As a result, the job structure and the contents of jobs tend to change continuously. Workers, then, have to keep on investing in human capital during their working career to remain employable. This all adds up to a situation in which participation rates in continuous training will have to be increased considerably. As a result more will have to be spent on training. We can indeed observe a growing participation in company training. However, expenditure on this type of training is still low compared to the expenses on initial education. Training is often too expensive to be paid by workers. However, also companies may refrain from investing in training in view of the uncertainties of the benefits and the costs involved. Particularly when it is difficult to replace the workers engaging in training and the firm's output is affected, the costs of training may be high. Replacement costs can be avoided if workers follow the training courses during slack periods. However, conventional forms of training usually require that groups of trainees attend a course on the same place and time. This must be organised well in advance. The training will thus often coincide with periods of high work pressure. A way out is to increase training efficiency and thus to reduce training costs. The use of ICT as a medium for training may help to alleviate these bottlenecks. The use of ICT may, for example, reduce teacher input, thereby reducing training costs. Moreover, ICT makes training relatively independent on time and place, making it easier to combine it with working obligations. Owing to these potentials, many companies have high expectations of ICT-based training. With lower training costs, more training can be done for the same amount of money.

• View at Worldcat

Free Full Text ( Final Version , 1mb )