In‐service learning in the emergent learning representative initiative in New Zealand

Abstract

This article considers the in‐service learning opportunities arising from the emergence and early formation of the learning representative scheme in New Zealand. Drawing on an interview study with respondents from the major stakeholders involved in the design of the scheme and subsequent ongoing research, the article makes comparisons between the scheme in New Zealand and its counterpart in the United Kingdom. The article suggests that in New Zealand both the training for learning representatives and the forms of learning they are likely to facilitate for others have tended to be more standardised initially than was the case with their UK counterparts. A tripartite framework that did not exist in the United Kingdom and the initial smaller scale of the New Zealand learning representative project facilitated greater standardisation of the process by which people acquired the skills and knowledge to be learning representatives. The greater standardisation of the training that learning representatives may facilitate for others is attributed to the stronger sector‐based vocational learning arrangements that existed in New Zealand and the lesser funds that have been made available to the New Zealand scheme to date. The article concludes by emphasising the merits of both the New Zealand and UK schemes that give workers greater choice and control in learning opportunities.