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This article reports on research carried out under the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC's) Learning Society Programme. The program comprised 14 projects involving research into the learning society and the ways in which it can contribute to the development of knowledge and skills for employment and in other areas of adult life. The article is one of a series of comparative studies which explore notions of lifelong learning, learning organisation and learning society in Europe and, in some cases, reflect on the use of comparative research in the social sciences. It outlines the introductory steps towards a possible framework for transnational comparisons of continuous vocational training (CVT), also referred to as 'company training'. The authors compare innovations in CVT within companies in the United Kingdom (UK), France and Spain. In the last two decades, CVT has become increasingly associated with organisational change and restructuring for competitiveness and flexibility, but also serves as a buffer against change through the qualification of employees and the anticipation of employment trends and skill requirements. In addition, all three countries have experienced deregulation to varying degrees and the authors demonstrate how each country has developed a form of 'social compromise' between the quest for economic competitiveness and the protection of employees from the effects of deregulation. The article indicates that cross-national comparison of innovation in company training requires the comparison of emerging 'compromises' within increasingly flexible and deregulated environments.

The volume from which this article is taken is indexed at TD/TNC 67.176. Other publications from the ESRC Learning Society Programme are indexed at TD/TNC 67.145, TD/TNC 67.152, TD/TNC 67.169, TD/TNC 67.185, and TD/TNC 67.192. Show less

This chapter, an edited version of a chapter (indexed at TD/TNC 67.180) published in 'Why's the beer always stronger up north' (indexed at TD/TNC 67.176), sets out the preliminary steps towards what could become a framework for transnational comparisons of continuous vocational training (CVT). Drawing on previous research undertaken by the Tavistock Institute, the main rationales for a framework emphasising the policy background of CVT and CVT as a sphere of negotiation are explained and the implications for a transnational comparison are drawn out. The main trends of the national configurations of CVT in each of the countries (UK, France and Spain) in this study are then reviewed, and in the final section, the implications of the framework for transnational comparison of training innovations at the level of the firm are outlined.

The monograph from which this chapter is taken is indexed at TD/TNC 71.424; selected chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 71.425 to TD/TNC 71.430.

Volumes one and two are indexed at TD/TNC 70.160 and TD/TNC 71.417. Show less