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Conclusion: Workforce Development – More Than the Sum of Its Parts?

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Workforce Development

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Abstract

Workforce development is an emerging field of practice, one that is increasingly gaining its place in the sun in government policies and organisational practices. However, what Skills Australia has identified as hampering endeavours to build on successful experiences and learn from one another is the diversity of views and understandings. The book therefore serves as a contribution to the demystifying of the notion. This final chapter distils five key messages that emerge from the previous chapters, and summarises the main strategies and practices that have been suggested by the chapter writers. Eight challenges in implementing workforce development are then discussed. The chapter concludes that, while it is indeed important to identify and define its components, workforce development is ‘more than the sum of its parts’ as the critical aspect is conceptualising how these components need to be configured and aligned in particular organisational contexts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Roger Harris & Tom Short

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  1. Roger Harris
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  2. Tom Short
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Correspondence to Roger Harris .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Education, Equity and Work Research Group, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, South Australia, Australia

    Tom Short

  2. Education, Equity and Work Research Group, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, South Australia, Australia

    Roger Harris

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Harris, R., Short, T. (2014). Conclusion: Workforce Development – More Than the Sum of Its Parts?. In: Short, T., Harris, R. (eds) Workforce Development. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-068-1_20

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