ABSTRACT

The agenda of innovation cannot be seen as incompatible with workforce development. The evidence points to the importance of lifelong learning to anchor the learning and development of not just non-permanent workers, but the broader workforce, across their working lives. Any provision for workforce development for non-permanent workers must necessarily be context dependent. The costs of individual ‘skills’ curtailment or atrophy, aggregated at the national level, have considerable implications for capability levels in the workforce and carry societal risks. The space for workforce development opens up dramatically with the focus on embodied practice. It puts the learner at the core in a journey of learning and developing across various settings. In summary, the integrated practice model offers fundamentally new ways to organise workforce development in support of the learning and development of non-permanent workers, alongside the wider workforce, which is likely to experience more frequent job and career changes.