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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the role of employee resource groups (ERGs) in a multi-national, for-profit corporation. The paper focuses on how ERGs facilitate learning.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative case study approach was used to examine six social identity based ERGs in one multi-national for-profit organization headquartered in the USA.FindingsThe study found that ERGs facilitate learning and development activities in order to support their membership. ERGs, operating as communities of practice, also engaged in informal learning opportunities that were designed to shift perspectives of non-members and executive-level leaders in the organization.Originality/valueThere is a growing body of literature on ERGs across organizations and higher education that examine how these groups engage in activism, advocacy, recruitment, retention and education. This study examines the processes by which these groups facilitate learning and development activities and the benefits perceived by the membership. The paper provides value to human resources professionals and others who are interested in how ERGs function as learning communities and outcomes the membership perceive as most important.

The study analyzed practitioners' perceptions about professional learning practices at higher secondary level in public and private sector. The components of professional learning practices were teaching learning process, students' development, teachers' professional relationship and service, institutional development and personal and professional growth. The objectives of this paper focused on checking practitioners' insights regarding above given components. The sample of the study were 633 practitioners. Major findings were that there was no major difference in perceptions of both sector teachers about teaching learning and students' development. The practitioners of private schools showed more interest in professional relationship, institutional development, personal and professional growth. It is recommended that institutional administration may make it mandatory for practitioners to prepare professional teaching portfolio and may design professional development courses about building their competency in classroom management. The administration of public schools may plan professional learning communities and knowledge sharing societies through launching collaborative campaigns.

Networking Learning Communities for Development Presented at: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Valletta, Malta, 23 November 2005, Report to the Foreign Ministers Committee by: Dr. Lewis Perinbam, O.C. Chairman of the Board Commonwealth of Learning // On behalf of the Board of Governors of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) I wish to thank you for the privilege of making this presentation. I want to begin by expressing our gratitude to Commonwealth governments for their support, especially those who are contributing financially to COL. // Our six major donors notably Canada, the UK, India, Nigeria, New Zealand (which plans to double its contribution over the next two years), and now South Africa are COL's financial backbone. During the current three-year plan Sierra Leone and Tuvalu became new contributors and Bangladesh, Ghana, St. Lucia, and Tanzania became supporters once again. We thank them all. Their financial support manifests the value they attach to COL. // The past biennium marked a change in COL's Presidency. Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan (Malaysia) who served COL with distinction for nine years and led it ably during a critical period in its history was succeeded by Sir John Daniel (United Kingdom) who is bringing new ideas and vitality to the organisation. I am delighted that he is here with me today. // COL will celebrate its 20th birthday at the next CHOGM. Commonwealth Heads of Government created COL when they met in Vancouver in 1987. They believed that Governments could only bring education and training to all their people by using media and technology. Twenty years ago the focus was on the mass media. Since then an effervescence of information and communications technologies has created an even richer environment for learning. // These contemporary methods of communication have sparked the revolution in open and distance learning that defines COL's mission. Our task is to enable Governments to harness this revolution to national aspirations. We help them to develop policies for using communications in education, to create distance learning systems and to apply learning technologies for many purposes. // The Millennium Development Goals provide the framework for describing our work. Let me give you a few examples of how we are helping countries towards these goals

This book analyses the experiences of professionals as they continue to learn at work. Although it focuses on learning in the health professions, it draws on research into continuing learning from other caring professions such as education and social services.

Purpose: This study aims to understand how the way people see their work and the authentizotic character of their organizational climate contribute to the building of a Great Place to Work. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents the results of a quantitative investigation that correlate the perceptions of organizational climate and the work orientations of professionals with different occupations on Portuguese lifelong education centers. Findings: The study indicates that all the core elements of an authentizotic organization contribute to explain what people potentially expect from their companies: adequate material conditions plus a meaningful contribution. Practical implications: The study has implications in the future for National Qualification Agency directors, education politicians and human resource managers who are responsible for providing good expectations within a healthy context of talent retention. Originality/value: The novel contribution of this paper is the finding that employee's work orientations and authentizotic climate are related to each other in a Lifelong learning Center in the public education sector.

Wer sich neben dem Beruf an einer Hochschule weiterbilden möchte, ist mit anderen Herausforderungen bei der Studienorganisation und Lerngestaltung konfrontiert, als Vollzeitstudierende. Die Hochschulforscher Sabine Remdisch und Christian Otto beschreiben in ihrem Band "Erfolgsfaktoren der Weiterbildung - Studiengestaltung für Learning Professionals", was den Erfolg eines berufsbegleitenden Weiterbildungsstudiums ausmacht. Auf der Grundlage ihrer Erhebung analysieren die Autoren, welche individuellen Voraussetzungen und Strategien notwendig sind, damit Learning Professionals ihr Studium mit einem guten Ergebnis meistern und abschließen können. Die Ergebnisse der Studie bilden die Grundlage für einen Dialog zwischen den Hochschulen als Anbieter und den Berufstätigen und Unternehmen als Nutzer von berufsbegleitenden Weiterbildungen. Anyone wanting to complement their profession with university study will face other challenges when organising their studies and learning than full-time students. The university researchers Sabine Remdisch and Christian Otto describe that which makes job-concurrent further education studies successful. Based on their survey findings, the authors analyse the individual requirements and strategies needed to allow "learning professionals" to complete their studies successfully. The results of the study form the basis for a dialogue between universities as providers and professionals and companies as the users of job-concurrent studies.

Now, as throughout human history, the world is undergoing transformation, and business organizations are caught in the turbulence of a change they are not able to control. The fundamental assumptions of our Western orthodox worldview, on which our business institutions were founded, has proved inadequate to regulate either our society or our business institutions. New business structures—communities—are emerging based on a transpersonal worldview, one that embraces spirituality, psychology, and science in an integrated perspective on human experience. Transpersonal learning communities combine an emphasis on the development of human consciousness and business performance by adopting triple-loop learning practices. While they do business, transpersonal learning communities will simultaneously transform themselves and society as a competitive advantage.

This paper explores the ways that social work practice learning, through community development projects, can help take forward the local sustainability agenda. The first part establishes links between three pedagogic areas: education for sustainability, student learning in the community and social work practice learning. The second section presents a case study of a small-scale, sustainability initiative at the University of Plymouth, UK. The paper negotiates an inherent tension between a broad and all encompassing conceptualisation of education for sustainability, and the specific approach to professional training prescribed for social workers and teachers. The tension mirrors the multi-leveled dimensions of the sustainability initiative under discussion. The case study considers the emergent, methodological approach to learning that was adopted. Prescribed outcomes were actively resisted and the paper argues that this approach carries merit. In closing, aspects of partnership working amongst the community development agencies and university, and future trajectories of the project are elucidated.

In recent years, nuclear security has gained prominence on the international security agenda. Driven by post 9/11 anxieties and the politicization of fears regarding nuclear terrorism, concerns in this area have spawned a wealth of initiatives, which seek to counter this threat. Principal among these have been efforts to promote nuclear security education and infuse teaching and learning in this sphere with a more holistic understanding of the subject, its relevance and its implications. Against this background, this article sets out the findings of empirical research into the impact of nuclear security 'train-the-trainer' professional development courses on the practice of an emerging cadre of nuclear security educators. In particular, the paper explores the value of this model as a means of establishing sustainable communities of practice in the context of nuclear security education.