Competence Perspective on Lifelong Workplace Learning

An ageing workforce and skilled labour shortage has created the need for workplace learning well beyond middle adulthood. With only a minority of older workers participating in training and development programmes, participation rates of older employees clearly need to increase. This book presents a competence perspective that treats workplace learning as a trainable skill, rather than as a cognitive function. Consistent with this view, competence should be accessible to interventions from human resource development professionals. By the same token, successful workplace learning across the lifespan depends on appropriate incentive structures and work conditions that in turn require specific institutional support and a policy context that fosters lifelong learning.