FUEL FOR EMPLOYER-DRIVEN TRAINING

As my thoughts this week turn to the philosophy of education, I reflect upon my professional context.  

The idea of accessibility of education and when and where learning should occur leads me to consider the introduction of employer-driven training/education grants.

In 2015, a new cost-shared program between the provincial and federal governments was launched with the goal of job creation and workforce up-skilling.   The Canada Ontario Job Grant (COJG) is a professional focus of my work, helping employers to consider up-skilling and training options, as well as significant grants to fund the training.  This is a powerful tool for employers, who often cannot justify or afford training for their workers.  

As I think about philosophy of education, I consider how important these grants are because they do not interrupt income in order to further invest in acquiring new skills.  Being able to “earn while you learn” is important for the working poor, who often get stuck in job-ghettos of low skill and accompanying low pay, which is a highly depressing scenario.  This grant can empower those in poverty because they no longer have to choose to work or to get higher skills.

The other point worthy of philosophical reflection relating to the COJG, is the idea of employers becoming the drivers of learning, dictating what should be taught based on what markets demand of them.  When employers drive the learning process, the solutions can be responsive to the actual demands of the labour market and training becomes more “just-in-time”.    I am seeing impressive evidence of large institutions (like mine) being more nimble than ever before, not just in response to COJG but to employer demands, generally.  The COJG is simply another piece of evidence at the need to be responsive, or risk being plowed-over by institutions that can redesign and repackage in response to industry needs and demands.  

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that there is no longer a need for a liberal education.  Institutions continue to cover that territory very well with students who need to learn HOW to learn.  I just see in my professional context how employers demand both timely technical skills and broad-based skills.  I think the COJG can help do both.  Better, yet, it can help employers to become active and engaged partners with institutions of higher learning and vice versa.  Through these partnerships, I think that Ontario can rise to become a highly skilled workforce.  If progress in this direction is not made, then the evidence I see in my professional context would be troubling.  So is the idea that low skill work disappearing.  If workers cannot raise their skills, either through self-funded training, or employer driven training, like the COJG, then poverty and dependence seems the natural result.  This makes me think how important it is to have the messages of grants such as the COJG reach employers of the working poor.

Questions from my professional context naturally arise:

How do we best market the COJG to reach all of the classes of workers and employers?

How can we help employers to choose the best training for their needs when the options are so wide open?

How can employers and trainers/colleges/universities foster collaborations with industry in new an innovative ways?

What can industry and higher learning institutions functionally do to better predict demands in order to be more educationally proactive?  How can we further leverage COJG to do this?