This study provides an analysis of policies and strategies adopted in five OECD countries to build a learning and training culture. The countries are Britain, United States, Sweden, Netherlands and Germany. The study found that whereas Sweden and the Netherlands have built a learning culture through evolutionary stages embedded in the wider social, economic cultural and political history of the country, Britain shows a revolutionary attempt to change the culture.
This report provides a review of the equity and access policies in schools, vocational education and training, higher education and adult community education and argues that government equity strategies could be improved by: targeting low-SES students within all equity groups; identifying two new target groups: those with low skills and the long-term unemployed; reporting performance in a way that focuses on the outcomes (in addition to the outputs) of education and training; strengthening pathways to employment from education and training.