The older the worker, the more likely they are to feel responsible for their own training and development.
According to a National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) survey of employee attitudes to training and development (T&D), 28% of the youngest group polled, 17- to 19-year-olds, felt the main responsibility for T&D lay with themselves. By contrast, 41% of workers aged 55 or over shared this view.
On average, 36% of the 2,076 employees polled by Niace (http://www.niace.org.uk) felt they bore the main responsibility for their own T&D. Just over one in five workers surveyed, 21%, felt responsibility for their T&D lay with their employer. The balance, 40%, thought T&D was a shared responsibility between employer and worker.
Niace said semi-skilled and unskilled workers were more likely, and professional and managerial staff less likely, to feel their employers were responsible for their T&D.
The research, which was carried out over the past year as part of a wider Niace project on learning at work, also found that most – 82% – respondents felt informal learning on the job was the most helpful way to learn. Some 54% said taking a course provided by an employer was also helpful.
The least favourite learning method amongst those polled was e-learning – 29% of respondents said they found it helpful.
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Niace director Alan Tuckett said the research showed British employees preferred less formal ways of learning and that “The government should recognise this by encouraging a culture of learning and reflective practice in workplaces”.
However, he added: “The figures suggest many workers have less faith than the government in employer-led training and skills policies.”
