ABSTRACT
Policy-makers preoccupied with finding ways of strengthening the relationship between education systems and the economy are increasingly focusing on workplace learning as a way of improving organizational performance and, at the aggregate level, national economic success. From a human capital perspective, the skills and qualifications of the workforce are believed to be central to productivity. Investing in their (or one’s own development) is assumed to result in economic dividends. As Garrick argues, ‘The idea of investing in human beings as a form of capital has, since then [the emergence of human capital theory], fuelled a very powerful discourse of workplace learning’ (1999: 217).
