The purpose of this paper is to focus on policy and practice in the field of post-compulsory education and training. This field encapsulates higher education, specifically adult education and human resource development or training and development. The paper will also focus on work and workers, and you will also be challenged to consider themes within the intersection of education and work, such as: Ideology and hegemony and the radical stream of adult education; specifically andragogy and the potential for education to be transformative.

The paper is based in the New Zealand context but international focus and seeks to balance theory with practical applied knowledge. In particular there is a focus on skills required in the workplace. The paper is also concerned with contemporary policy analysis on policy initiatives related to skill formation.

Specifically the paper examines the tension between:

• the ‘quest for enlightenment’ tradition: the long struggle by working people and their collective organisations, such as unions, to secure and enhance educational opportunities as part of a broader struggle for social and political democracy; and

• the ‘industrial training’ tradition: the complexity of primarily economic pressures which, over time (the last 200 years), has encouraged education and training policies that emphasise the skilling and re-skilling of the workforce in order to promote economic growth

There is also a third idea connected with the humanist tradition that intersects both. It is important to understand this in order to appreciate what this paper is about and also why adult education is often associated with left-wing politics/perspectives.

The themes of the paper include:

• the links between the changing nature of paid and unpaid work, in a global as well as a local context, and current education and training policies;
• how different political and economic perspectives shape both the identification of issues and the ways those issues are tackled;
• the impact of the tertiary education reforms since the 2000s (and if time the 1990s);
• key IR&HRM concepts such as ‘workplace learning’ and ‘human capital theory’;
• the perspectives of key stakeholders (employers, unions, government);
• the institutional framework NZQA, the NZQF, industry training organizations (ITOs); and
• contemporary (2016) issues, and policies.