Promising Approaches to Training in the United States and United Kingdom

Authors:Karen MyersHeather Smith FowlerDominique LeonardDavid Gyarmati

In recent years, there has been significant innovation in the design and delivery of employment training programs, especially to those targeted to adults with low skill levels. Broadly speaking, innovations in employment training for low-skilled adults have shifted from an “individual-based” approach — where training is typically more general and tries to give students a range of skills that can be used in different jobs — to one more focused on employer needs.

This second approach sacrifices some of the generality in individual-based training to improve the fit of skills to specific jobs. There is also increased attention to building career ladders, with a focus on providing training that helps individuals to secure decent-paying, higher-quality jobs.

These initiatives focus on making training more accessible to working-age adults in terms of curriculum and linking skill-upgrade programs directly to employment and advancement opportunities. Many of these approaches have been observed in international programs. This report provides a summary of findings from a consultation exercise on those promising practices in training for lower skilled adults in the United States and the United Kingdom.

These international consultations represent one component of a larger study, the Learning and Active Employment Program project (LAEP), whose overall goal is to develop options for testing innovative training interventions for lower skilled unemployed Canadian adults.

The first phase of this project involved a review of existing evaluations and research studies to identify knowledge gaps and promising approaches focusing on several of these innovations in the design and delivery of employment training programs, especially with respect to programs targeted to adults with low skill levels.

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Project Details

Capability: Policy Research
Policy Area: Adult Learning - Adult Training
Population: General Population - Low-skilled Workers
Type: Report
Sponsors: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)

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