<p>This study investigated the reasons why FET part-time students enrolled at a FET college by examining their learning orientations. Guided by the literature, the focus was on the vocational orientation to learning and orientations to learning were further investigated within the vocational orientation based on orientations developed for part-time students found in the literature. In addition, it was investigated whether students&rsquo / expectations have been met and if they were satisfied with the college experience. Lastly, the study examined the relevance of college learning to the world of work and the contribution it made to the career development of learners in a globalising world. </p> <p>The research shows that part-time students enrol at FET colleges predominantly for vocational reasons and the majority of the students were enrolled in order to advance their careers and associated with a vocational orientation to learning. However, it emerged that reasons for learning within the vocational orientation to learning are often multi-faceted and complex. The most important findings are 3 new learning orientations for part-time students that were identified: &lsquo / education for a qualification&rsquo / , &lsquo / education for adults who previously made the wrong choice&rsquo / and &lsquo / education for adults as a model for their children&rsquo / . Furthermore, the findings indicate that learners were satisfied with the programme they were enrolled in because they believed that the qualification would enable them to achieve their vocational aims which were primarily to find a new job, to be promoted and to increase their income. The findings suggest that the programme that was examined was relevant to the world of work, promoted employability and that it made a significant and important contribution to students&rsquo / career development in a globalising world.</p>

Dans le cadre de leurs démarches de modernisation, les entreprises tunisiennes sont à la recherche d’un modèle de gestion efficace de leurs Ressources Humaines permettant, au-delà de la flexibilité et des restructurations nécessaires, d’assurer un développement de leurs performances, ainsi qu’une sécurisation des parcours professionnels de leurs salariés. L’hypothèse centrale que nous avons déterminée comme réponse à cette problématique est la suivante : la rénovation de Gestion des Ressources Humaines, par la mise en place d’une politique de développement de l’employabilité, aide les entreprises tunisiennes à faire progresser leur performance sociale et économique et à sécuriser les parcours professionnels de leurs salariés.Les résultats de cette recherche mettent tout d’abord en évidence les principales difficultés de modernisation de Gestion des Ressources Humaines au sein des entreprises tunisiennes (managériales, structurelles, institutionnels et culturelles), puis l’apport de développement de l’employabilité pour la rénovation des pratiques de GRH et à l’accroissement de performances sociales et économiques à moyen et à long terme et, enfin, les conditions nécessaires à l’intégration d’une politique de développement de l’employabilité à la GRH. / As part of their efforts to modernize the Tunisian companies are looking for a model of effective management of their human resources with, beyond restructuring and flexibility necessary to ensure development of their performance and a career security of their employees. The central hypothesis we have determined as a response to this problem is: the renovation of Human Resource Management, for the establishment of a policy of development of employability, with Tunisian companies to advance their performance social and economic security and career paths for their employees.The results of this research are first identified the major challenges of modernizing human resources management in the Tunisian firms (managerial, structural, institutional and cultural) and the provision of employability development for renovation Human Resource Management practices and increasing social and economic performance in the medium and longer term and finally the conditions for the integration of a development policy employability of HRM.

Today, there is a mismatch between business graduates and employers in the labor market, interms of fit. Much of this mismatch is due to a lack of understanding of the needs of individualemployers. Previous research has not taken into consideration contextual and individualdifferences, which significantly affects what employers want. Hence, in order to understand theemployability of business graduates, one has to recognize the diversity in employer needs,which entails studying the role of organizational identity in employer requirements. The purpose of this research was to get a more comprehensive understanding of how individualemployers in Sweden experience different aspects of Graduate Employability. The dissertationfurther builds on significant research on Graduate Employability, thus making it a study ofdeductive nature. In order to increase the understanding of Graduate Employability, we optedfor an exploratory and qualitative approach. With the use of interviews, we were able to collectin-depth empirical data that were based on real-life experiences and working environments offive individual employers. Our findings illustrated Graduate Employability from a more practical perspective, thusoffering a more nuanced understanding of what employers expect and want from businessgraduates. Not only did we illuminate the concept of Graduate Employability, but we alsohighlighted the importance getting to know the employers and their needs. The contribution of this thesis will help aspiring business graduates to improve theiremployability, but the findings also have implications for higher education institutions andemployers alike.

Parmi les pratiques d’intervention sociale qui se produisent quotidiennement dans les milieux institutionnel et associatif au Québec, une catégorie est particulièrement ciblée depuis quelques décennies, les jeunes ou la jeunesse. En s’inscrivant dans une démarche réflexive et exploratoire sur les fondements des pratiques d’intervention auprès des jeunes, le présent mémoire propose d’explorer le sens et la pertinence sociale de ces dernières à travers les perspectives des intervenants eux-mêmes. Pour ce faire, nous effectuons des études de cas selon une approche clinique et critique en sociologie. En allant chercher dans les témoignages d’un certain nombre d’intervenants des milieux institutionnel, communautaire et de l’employabilité leur connaissance expérientielle concernant la pratique d’intervention auprès des jeunes, nous dégageons des conceptions du social ou des sociologies implicites particulières. Se dégagent quatre idéaux-types - systémique, informationnel, normatif et clinique – qui visent respectivement l’émancipation, l’aide à l’insertion, la socialisation aux normes et le soutien humain. Notre analyse en termes de sociologie implicite explore la double question du sens selon les agents et de la fonction selon les processus engendrés. Elle permet d’articuler les conceptions que les agents sociaux se font de leur pratique avec son inscription dans le monde social. Ainsi, nous concluons que les pratiques d’intervention auprès des jeunes participent non seulement à la transformation sociale par l’ouverture d’espaces de liberté et de compréhension et par le soutien humain offert mais aussi à la normalisation et au contrôle par la constitution du marché du travail et/ou du monde adulte comme réalités auxquelles les jeunes doivent s’adapter. / Over the last several decades, one category of the population has been particularly targeted by social intervention in Quebec as elsewhere: youth. This thesis aims to examine the meaning and social relevance of intervention practices directed to youth, through a reflexive and exploratory study of their foundations as they are perceived and explained by practitioners themselves. The study involves a series of case studies carried out using an approach that blends clinical and critical sociology. By seeking out a number of practitioners’ interpretations of their practical experience, within institutional, community and employability milieux, we elicit their conceptions of the social, or the “implicit sociology”, that underlies their practices. Four ideal-typical conceptions are identified - systemic, informational, normative and clinical - which have as their objectives, respectively, emancipation, social inclusion, socialization and human support. The analysis in terms of “implicit sociology” explores the double question of meaning according to these social agents and of function according to the processes that are fostered by intervention. It allows for an articulation of the ways in which these social agents conceptualize their practices and how these practices are inscribed in the social world. We find that social intervention practices targeting youth engage not only in social transformation, through opening up spaces for freedom and understanding and through the offer of human support, but also, in “normalization” or social control, by constituting the labour market and the adult world as realities to which youth must adapt

<p>This study investigated the reasons why FET part-time students enrolled at a FET college by examining their learning orientations. Guided by the literature, the focus was on the vocational orientation to learning and orientations to learning were further investigated within the vocational orientation based on orientations developed for part-time students found in the literature. In addition, it was investigated whether students&rsquo / expectations have been met and if they were satisfied with the college experience. Lastly, the study examined the relevance of college learning to the world of work and the contribution it made to the career development of learners in a globalising world. </p> <p>The research shows that part-time students enrol at FET colleges predominantly for vocational reasons and the majority of the students were enrolled in order to advance their careers and associated with a vocational orientation to learning. However, it emerged that reasons for learning within the vocational orientation to learning are often multi-faceted and complex. The most important findings are 3 new learning orientations for part-time students that were identified: &lsquo / education for a qualification&rsquo / , &lsquo / education for adults who previously made the wrong choice&rsquo / and &lsquo / education for adults as a model for their children&rsquo / . Furthermore, the findings indicate that learners were satisfied with the programme they were enrolled in because they believed that the qualification would enable them to achieve their vocational aims which were primarily to find a new job, to be promoted and to increase their income. The findings suggest that the programme that was examined was relevant to the world of work, promoted employability and that it made a significant and important contribution to students&rsquo / career development in a globalising world.</p>

The contemporary working environment is characterised by constant change and increased cognitive and emotional demands on employees. At the same time, long-term employment is no longer guaranteed and often employees are not loyal to one organisation throughout their careers. These changes alter and threaten the viability of the employment relationship. Employees still provide a competitive edge for organisations and their expectations should be managed in such a way that the current organisation remains the employee’s employer of choice. If employers fail to achieve this, employees will be less satisfied and voluntary turnover will result, with detrimental effects on the organisation, both directly and indirectly. In order to ensure the retention of valuable employees, organisations need to identify the predictors of employees’ intention to leave and the nature of the relationships between these factors. Previous studies focused on evaluating the content of the psychological contract and its relation to employee well-being and intention to leave. However, the focus should be less on what employees expect from employers and more on whether these expectations are being fulfilled, now and in future, and whether employees perceive it as fair. Although numerous studies have been conducted on the outcomes of the psychological contract, the evaluation of the state of the psychological contract and its predictive ability remains largely unexplored. More research is also needed to identify mediators in the psychological contract domain. Employability emerged as a coping resource for employees in times of uncertainty. Unfortunately, the more employable employees are, the more likely they will leave the organisation. Due to the assumed positive relationship between employability and performance, organisations should aim to enhance the employability of their employees but at the same time they should seek ways to retain these employees. Empirical research on the outcomes of perceived employability is limited and more research is also needed to identify moderators. The objectives of the study were 1) to determine whether the state of the psychological contract (as perceived by the employee) mediates the relationship between employees’ well-being and their intention to leave the organisation; and 2) to determine whether the state of the psychological contract (as perceived by the employee) moderates the relationship between perceived employability and employees’ well-being and their intention to leave the organisation, respectively. Structural equation modelling was used to establish the significance of the relationship between the variables simultaneously. Two structural models were evaluated; one with employee well-being as mediator and one with the state of the psychological contract as moderator. The results indicated that employee well-being partially mediates the negative relationship between the state of the psychological contract and intention to leave. The state of the psychological contract played a significant role in predicting individual outcomes. The results also indicated that perceived employability had a positive relationship with intention to leave. This is in line with previous international studies. Contrary to what was expected, no significant relationship was found between perceived employability and employee well-being. Furthermore, the state of the psychological contract did not moderate the relationship between perceived employability and employees’ well-being and their intention to leave the organisation, respectively. The results highlighted the importance of well-being as a factor in employees’ intention to leave the organisation. Recommendations were made for organisations and futher reseach. / Thesis (MCom (Human Resource Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The contemporary working environment is characterised by constant change and increased cognitive and emotional demands on employees. At the same time, long-term employment is no longer guaranteed and often employees are not loyal to one organisation throughout their careers. These changes alter and threaten the viability of the employment relationship. Employees still provide a competitive edge for organisations and their expectations should be managed in such a way that the current organisation remains the employee’s employer of choice. If employers fail to achieve this, employees will be less satisfied and voluntary turnover will result, with detrimental effects on the organisation, both directly and indirectly. In order to ensure the retention of valuable employees, organisations need to identify the predictors of employees’ intention to leave and the nature of the relationships between these factors. Previous studies focused on evaluating the content of the psychological contract and its relation to employee well-being and intention to leave. However, the focus should be less on what employees expect from employers and more on whether these expectations are being fulfilled, now and in future, and whether employees perceive it as fair. Although numerous studies have been conducted on the outcomes of the psychological contract, the evaluation of the state of the psychological contract and its predictive ability remains largely unexplored. More research is also needed to identify mediators in the psychological contract domain. Employability emerged as a coping resource for employees in times of uncertainty. Unfortunately, the more employable employees are, the more likely they will leave the organisation. Due to the assumed positive relationship between employability and performance, organisations should aim to enhance the employability of their employees but at the same time they should seek ways to retain these employees. Empirical research on the outcomes of perceived employability is limited and more research is also needed to identify moderators. The objectives of the study were 1) to determine whether the state of the psychological contract (as perceived by the employee) mediates the relationship between employees’ well-being and their intention to leave the organisation; and 2) to determine whether the state of the psychological contract (as perceived by the employee) moderates the relationship between perceived employability and employees’ well-being and their intention to leave the organisation, respectively. Structural equation modelling was used to establish the significance of the relationship between the variables simultaneously. Two structural models were evaluated; one with employee well-being as mediator and one with the state of the psychological contract as moderator. The results indicated that employee well-being partially mediates the negative relationship between the state of the psychological contract and intention to leave. The state of the psychological contract played a significant role in predicting individual outcomes. The results also indicated that perceived employability had a positive relationship with intention to leave. This is in line with previous international studies. Contrary to what was expected, no significant relationship was found between perceived employability and employee well-being. Furthermore, the state of the psychological contract did not moderate the relationship between perceived employability and employees’ well-being and their intention to leave the organisation, respectively. The results highlighted the importance of well-being as a factor in employees’ intention to leave the organisation. Recommendations were made for organisations and futher reseach. / Thesis (MCom (Human Resource Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Η μελέτη αυτή έχει ως βασική επιδίωξη την καταγραφή, τη συστηματική παρουσίαση και τη σύγκριση των πολιτικών Δια βίου μάθησης στην Ελλάδα και την Ιρλανδία. Στόχος είναι να αποκτηθεί ολοκληρωμένη εικόνα για τις πολιτικές αντιλήψεις, τους θεσμούς και τις πρακτικές Δια Βίου μάθησης στα εθνικά εκπαιδευτικά συστήματα των δύο χωρών. Επιπλέον στόχος, η ανίχνευση της σχέσης των πολιτικών της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης (υπερεθνικές πολιτικές) με τις εκπαιδευτικές πολιτικές Ελλάδας και Ιρλανδίας (εθνικές πολιτικές). Για την επίτευξη των στόχων της έρευνας χρησιμοποιείται η συγχρονική συγκριτική μέθοδος, η οποία αφορά τη μελέτη του εκπαιδευτικού φαινομένου σε διαφορετικούς χώρους αλλά στον ίδιο χρόνο. Η διαδρομή που ακολουθεί η έρευνα είναι: αφήγηση των γεγονότων, κατανόηση και ερμηνεία. Οι κατηγορίες σύγκρισης και ανάλυσης των δύο χωρών είναι πέντε και είναι το ιστορικό υπόβαθρο, το νομοθετικό πλαίσιο, η χρηματοδότηση, οι φορείς και οι δομές Δια Βίου μάθησης καθώς επίσης η συμμετοχή στη Δια Βίου μάθηση και οι δείκτες της Στρατηγικής της Λισσαβόνας. Τα συμπεράσματα της διατριβής μπορούν να συνοψισθούν στα παρακάτω: Oι δύο χώρες ξεκίνησαν την προσπάθεια για δημιουργία ολοκληρωμένης πολιτικής Δια Βίου μάθησης από διαφορετική αφετηρία, εξαιτίας του ιστορικού τους υπόβαθρου. H Ιρλανδία, αν και στο νομοθετικό τομέα της Δια Βίου έχει μεγαλύτερο παρελθόν, δεν έχει καταφέρει μέχρι σήμερα να εκμεταλλευτεί την εμπειρία της και να δημιουργήσει ένα συνεκτικό νομοθετικό πλαίσιο, που να καθορίζει τη δομή και τη λειτουργία του συνόλου της Δια Βίου μάθησης στη χώρα. Αντίθετα, η Ελλάδα παρά την σχετική απειρία και την έλλειψη νομοθετικού παρελθόντος γύρω από θέματα Δια Βίου μάθησης ψήφισε ένα ολοκληρωμένο νομοθετικό πλαίσιο γύρω από τη Δια Βίου. Οι δύο χώρες έχουν αναπτύξει παρόμοιες δομές για την ανάπτυξη και την προώθηση της Δια Βίου, ακολουθώντας τις οδηγίες της Ευρωπαϊκής Επιτροπής. Μεγάλη διαφοροποίηση μεταξύ Ιρλανδίας και Ελλάδας: Στην Ιρλανδία πέρα από τους δημόσιους φορείς και τις αυτόνομες δομές, δραστηριοποιούνται δύο μεγάλοι ιδιωτικοί/εθελοντικοί φορείς, ο AONTAS και η NALA. Η διαδρομή που είχαν να καλύψουν οι δύο χώρες απέχει πάρα πολύ, κάτι που τελικά αποτυπώνεται σήμερα στους συγκριτικούς δείκτες και εν τέλει στα ποσοστά συμμετοχής στη Δια Βίου μάθηση (2,1% η συμμετοχή στη Δια Βίου στην Ελλάδα για το έτος 2007 και 7,6% το αντίστοιχο ποσοστό για την Ιρλανδία). Πριν την Λισσαβόνα, η Ιρλανδία ήταν πιο κοντά σε αυτό που θα αποκαλούσαμε «υπάκουη» ευρωπαϊκή χώρα, σε σχέση με τις πολιτικές Δια Βίου μάθησης. Οι δύο χώρες, μετά την Λισσαβόνα (2000), είναι εξίσου «υπάκουες» στις ευρωπαϊκές επιθυμίες και οι ευρωπαϊκές πολιτικές έχουν επιβληθεί (σχεδόν πλήρως) στις εθνικές πολιτικές. / The purpose of this study is to detect, present and compare the lifelong learning policies in Greece and Ireland. The main aim is to obtain an integrated view about the political perceptions, the institutions and the practices of lifelong learning in the national education systems of those two countries. An additional target is to trace the relation between the supra-national education policies and the national educational policies. In order to achieve the forth mentioned targets the comparative method is used. The route of the study is: narration of the phenomena, comprehension and finally interpretation. There are five categories of comparison and analysis between the two countries: historical background, legislative framework, financing, structures, participation in lifelong learning as well as the indicators of the Lisbon Strategy. The conclusions of the study can be summarized in the followings: these two countries began their efforts for the formation of a coherent lifelong learning policy from a totally different starting point, due to their historical background. In the legislative field, Ireland has greater tradition (mainly in education training) but until today has not yet create o coherent legislative framework for lifelong learning. On the other hand, Greece despite the lack of experience has created (in 2005) a coherent legislative framework for lifelong learning. The two countries have also developed similar structures to promote and to develop lifelong learning, following the guidelines from the European Union. The greatest diversification between those two countries is the involvement of the private sector. In Ireland, AONTAS and NALA, which are private-volunteer structures, are mega actors in the field of lifelong learning while in Greece there is almost no interest from the private sector for the lifelong learning policies. Today, the participation percentage in lifelong learning activities shows a 5,5% difference between the two countries, as Ireland has a 7,6% of participation in lifelong learning while Greece has only a 2,1% being the worst country in European Union. Finally, we could say that both countries are very obedient to the wills of European Union and the supra national policies have overruled the national policies.

Le contrat psychologique se définit comme une croyance de l'employé relative à des obligations réciproques entre lui-même et son employeur, lesquelles sont basées uniquement sur la perception des promesses de l'organisation mais qui ne correspondent pas obligatoirement à la réalité. Bien que ce concept suscite une littérature abondante, peu d'études se sont intéressées spécifiquement à ses relations avec la formation organisationnelle. La revue de littérature met en évidence que les caractéristiques sociodémographiques, organisationnelles et formationnelles influencent le contrat psychologique d'une part. D'autre part, les objectifs de performance organisationnelle et d'employabilité, les facteurs contextuels et le transfert des acquis de la formation contribuent à l'efficacité de la formation. Cette recherche-action vise à répondre à la question de l'influence du contrat psychologique sur la formation organisationnelle. L'échantillon de l'étude est composé de 119 ouvriers non diplômés d'un site de production automobile français. La première partie des résultats se consacre à l'étude de la validité psychométrique de l'outil de mesure du contrat psychologique, le « Psychological Contract Inventory » (PCI), à l'influence des variables sociodémographiques, organisationnelles et formationnelles sur le contrat psychologique. La seconde partie s'intéresse à l'influence de la réalisation du contrat psychologique sur la satisfaction de la formation. A partir de la revue de littérature et des résultats obtenus, un modèle théorique comprenant l'influence des caractéristiques individuelles, organisationnelles et formationnelles de l'employé sur le contrat psychologique et l'influence de la réalisation du contrat psychologique sur la satisfaction de la formation est proposé. Dans la troisième partie, les implications pratiques et théoriques des résultats sont discutées. / The Psychological Contract is defined as a belief of the employee on reciprocal obligations between himself and his employer, which is also based solely on the perception of the organization's promises but does not necessarily correspond to reality. Although this concept provides researchers with abundant literature, few studies have focused specifically on its relationship with organizational training. The literature review consulted for this research shows that socio-demographic, organizational and training characteristics influence the Psychological Contract and also that the objectives of organizational performance and employability, contextual factors and transfer of training contribute to the effectiveness of the training. The purpose of this action-research is to answer the question of the extent of the influence of the Psychological Contract on organizational training. The study sample consists of 119 unqualified workers in a French automotive production site. The first part of this research's results is dedicated to the study of the psychometric validity of the Psychological Contract's measurement tool, the "Psychological Contract Inventory" (PCI) and the influence of socio-demographic, organizational and formational variables on the Psychological Contract. The second part focuses on the influence of the realization of the Psychological Contract on training satisfaction. From the literature review and the results obtained, a theoretical model is proposed which would include the influence of individual, organizational and training characteristics of the employee's Psychological Contract and the influence of the realization of the Psychological Contract on training satisfaction. In the third part, the practical and theoretical implications of the results are discussed.

Dans le cadre de leurs démarches de modernisation, les entreprises tunisiennes sont à la recherche d’un modèle de gestion efficace de leurs Ressources Humaines permettant, au-delà de la flexibilité et des restructurations nécessaires, d’assurer un développement de leurs performances, ainsi qu’une sécurisation des parcours professionnels de leurs salariés. L’hypothèse centrale que nous avons déterminée comme réponse à cette problématique est la suivante : la rénovation de Gestion des Ressources Humaines, par la mise en place d’une politique de développement de l’employabilité, aide les entreprises tunisiennes à faire progresser leur performance sociale et économique et à sécuriser les parcours professionnels de leurs salariés.Les résultats de cette recherche mettent tout d’abord en évidence les principales difficultés de modernisation de Gestion des Ressources Humaines au sein des entreprises tunisiennes (managériales, structurelles, institutionnels et culturelles), puis l’apport de développement de l’employabilité pour la rénovation des pratiques de GRH et à l’accroissement de performances sociales et économiques à moyen et à long terme et, enfin, les conditions nécessaires à l’intégration d’une politique de développement de l’employabilité à la GRH. / As part of their efforts to modernize the Tunisian companies are looking for a model of effective management of their human resources with, beyond restructuring and flexibility necessary to ensure development of their performance and a career security of their employees. The central hypothesis we have determined as a response to this problem is: the renovation of Human Resource Management, for the establishment of a policy of development of employability, with Tunisian companies to advance their performance social and economic security and career paths for their employees.The results of this research are first identified the major challenges of modernizing human resources management in the Tunisian firms (managerial, structural, institutional and cultural) and the provision of employability development for renovation Human Resource Management practices and increasing social and economic performance in the medium and longer term and finally the conditions for the integration of a development policy employability of HRM.