This is a workshop presentation given by the then Managing Director of NCVER, in August 2000 in Beijing, China.
The education of the population and the skilling of the workforce are the factors which are going to determine a nation's fortunes in the 21st century much more than they have in the 20th century. The skills base of a nation and the speed with which skilling can adjust to meet new requirements will be as important, if not more important in determining economic success than a nation's natural resources and financial capital base. These changes will not be achieved without further significant reform to our education and training system. This report discusses these issues and the direction for the future.
This book comprises the combined papers presented at concurrent sessions on research into a training culture at the conference 'Creating our future: A new training culture for Australia' held in Brisbane, August 1998, by the Australian National Training Authority. Industrial development of a training culture, individuals' and enterprises' motives for training, economic forces for learning and how research can facilitate change in training are discussed by Australia's top researchers.