Adaptive training boosts learning
Much of psychology's efforts over the last few decades have been spent on understanding the nature of memory. Increasingly, though, psychologists are beginning to apply what we've learned about memory, so as to help enhance people's performance. In 2007, the British Psychological Society Digest...
Could you take the 6 book reading challenge?
The pen is mighter than the sword, they say and now the trade union movement and public library services are offering innovative approaches to encouraging reading in the workplace through a new Reading Agency publication, which outlines how it can be a powerful force for social change. Getting...
Change Management is top skills for HR professionals
'Effective management of change' is today branded the top 'HR skill for survival', following the results of an poll posted on the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's (CIPD) online forum, Communities. Over 400 respondents from the HR community chose three competencies they believed...
Forget brainstorming
Brainstorming sessions are popular but surprisingly ineffective. Research reported by the British Psychological Society shows that people actually come up with more ideas working on their own than they do brainstorming together. According to business psychologist Peter Heslin, an alternative way...
Training managers is a good way to thrive in recession
Training and developing staff remains an important priority for employers, despite the economic downturn, but budgets are being squeezed and prioritisation of management and leadership development is the order of the day, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)....
Employees should be taught political skills
Psychologists in America are according to the British Psychological Society calling on organisations to train their staff in political skills. Vickie Gallagher and Mary Laird made their recommendation after reporting evidence that the job satisfaction of staff with low political skill suffers...
How to make elearning work identified
The internet was supposed to be the big thing for 21st century learning, but has been slow to take off. Essentially a solitary activity the uptake of e-learning increases if people are encouraged to talk about their learning experiences and if there is a teacher who learners can relate to....
Business education needs to be more inspiring -
Young people are eager to learn about business and economics, but their keenness is not always matched by the quality of teaching they receive, which too often is 'thorough but uninspiring' and fails to bring a real sense of excitement to learning. These were the findings of a report,...
European money will improve skills and increase jobs
£27 million of new European Social Fund (ESF) money will be invested in innovative projects to help people improve skills and stay in work, or develop new skills and find a new job. Interested organisations are being called on to submit proposals to run regional projects which will...
Thinking more improves decision making
"Want to make a complicated decision? Just stop thinking", was one of hundreds of headlines spawned by a study published in 2006 by Ap Dijksterhuis and colleagues. The team of Dutch researchers reported that students made "better" decisions after being distracted by an anagram task, compared with...
More than half of workforce want right to ask for training
Seven in ten (71 per cent) working people would like to see a new legal right to request paid time off for training and 53 per cent say they would be likely to use it, according to a new YouGov survey released by the TUC and unionlearn, its learning and skills organisation. The poll shows that...
Apprentices should be covered by Minimum Wage laws
All apprentices should be protected by the national minimum wage (NMW) in order to end exploitation and reduce the number of people who drop out because they cannot afford to complete their training, says a new TUC report. In its submission to the Low Pay Commission (LPC) minimum wage apprentice...
Employers need to do more to explain pensions
The latest findings from the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) Workplace Pensions Survey show that more work must be done with employees to build their understanding of the benefits of workplace pensions. The findings show that over one in four (29%) of all employees with access to a...
CIPD welcomes right to train
Responding to the launch of a consultation by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) on the right for workers to request training, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) cautiously welcomed the proposal, but warned that employers must be able to decline...
TUC welcomes right to request time to train
Commenting on the Government's consultation published yesterday which should see workers being given a new legal right to request time to train at work, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Decent, high quality and regular training in all workplaces is key to achieving a highly skilled...
Lack of skills still a problem for employers
The vast majority of British organisations (86%) are still having trouble filling vacancies in spite of talk of an economic slowdown according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's (CIPD) annual Recruitment, Retention and Turnover Survey. The findings show that employers are...
Leaders could do better
Efforts by UK businesses to improve leadership in their organisations are failing to deliver the outcomes necessary to grow and compete successfully according to the Global Leadership Forecast, a new survey by business leadership consultancy DDI and the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and...
Fast track degrees good for employers
Research published by the Higher Education Academy and carried out by Sheffield Hallam University shows that the new two-year Fast Track degrees are valued by professional bodies and employers and provide real benefits for students. Minister for Higher Education Bill Rammell revealed this latest...
National Learning at Work Day takes place on 22th May 2008.
The theme of this year’s National Learning at Work Day, the Campaign for Learning’s 9th annual national workplace learning awareness campaign is Sustainable Workplaces. The Campaign hopes that organisations and employees will use Thursday 22 May to learn skills and working practices...
Adult Learners' Week
The largest festival of learning in the UK is on its way. Adult Learners’ Week - which runs from 17th – 23rd May 2008 and is organised by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) – is a time when thousands of people consider a return to learning and begin a...
Skills shortages continue to plague employers
Over half (53%) of organisations say their learning and development work has not yet been influenced by the government's post-Leitch skills agenda, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's annual learning and development survey. Only 13% have signed the Employer Skills...
TUC training boosts employers
Supervisors working in the building services sector, in the City of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, can sharpen up their act at work with free training in basic employment rights and industrial relations skills from the TUC. The TUC's Vulnerable Workers Project (VWP), based in...
Singing is the best way to learn a new language
Native speakers of a foreign language are obviously difficult to understand, but now a report from the British Psychological Society about research conducted by Daniele Schon and colleagues shows that hearing foreign words sung can help with this segmenting process - a finding that has obvious...
Leap Year offers extra day for training
While Leap Year is traditionally the day when women propose marriage, a new survey conducted on behalf of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) reveals that the UK's working population has something a little less romantic on its mind this year. The survey, which questioned over 1,000 employees...
Women apprentices still get raw deal
With the new series of the BBC1 television programme The Apprentice now underway, TUC research shows that female apprentices are still being left far behind their male counterparts. The report Still More (Better Paid) Jobs for the Boys - prepared for the TUC Young Members Forum shows that while...
Lily Allen in TUC learning film
Today unionlearn, the TUC's learning and skills organisation, will launch a new animated film called Kate and Umar's Incredible Learning Journey. Featuring cartoon characters of Lily Allen and the Levellers, the ten-minute animation is intended to reach new audiences and encourage individuals to...
Apprenticeship strategy welcomed
Commenting on the Government's strategy for apprenticeships, Ready to Work, Skilled for Work, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'There is much to welcome in the Government's apprenticeships review. The expansion of apprenticeships must be based on improving quality, equality and...
Skills warning to finance sector
Union leaders, employers and Minister for Skills David Lammy have set out the skills challenge facing the UK finance sector at a seminar hosted by unionlearn, the TUC's learning and skills organisation. The finance sector has grown by 5.5 per cent a year since 2002 and currently accounts for...
Employers overlook skills of refugees
Schools and colleges are missing out on the knowledge, skills and experience of hundreds of potential teachers who have come to the United Kingdom as refugees when they fill job vacancies, the head of a task force said today. Dr Robert Garnett, co-chair of the Refugee Teachers Task Force, said,...
Communicating the value of learning needs updating
Training professionals need to move away from traditional evaluation methods for their work, towards measures that address the real value learning and development contributes to strategic business objectives and in achieving high performance, according to a comprehensive new study from the...