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This study aims to provide an overview of the past two decades of lifelong learning (LLL) policies for enhancing employability and reduce social exclusion in young people of European countries through the development of the so-called LLL key-competences.

Built on a quasi-systematic review, this contribution explores traditional and new methods for promoting the LLL transition, and then employability, in young adults (e.g. apprenticeship, vocational training, e-learning, etc.).

It argues the need to identify all the possible approaches able to support policymakers, as they can differently impact key-competence development.

Finally, based on the consolidated EU policy experience, we propose a strategy of implementation of the LLL programmes that facilitates the institutions’ decision processes for policy-making through the use of decisional support system.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of coherent alignment of current theory from cognitive psychology with practice and policy in training and education institutions developing e-learning materials and present recommendations emphasising the human factor within processes.

In this paper a recent empirical study which applies current theory from cognitive psychological and multimodal learning research provides the backdrop to discussion about alignment of strategic vision, through policy, to effective practice.

Despite advances in cognitive psychology which can be applied to targeting effective and measurable training and education, many institutions fail to maintain updated e-learning strategy and policy resulting in a negative impact on practice and the learner experience.

The model presented in this paper is intended to promote thoughtful discussion about the processes and framework necessary for improved collaboration and communication supported by ongoing evaluation of institutional e-learning policy such that policy becomes a dynamic process congruent with developments in the learning sciences.

The paper includes recommendations for a refined view of knowledge, skills, and attitudes and alignment of policy with practice and theory and will be of interest to training and education institutions seeking to review their policies for training needs analysis and e-learning.

This paper offers an up-to-date view of training needs analysis and multimedia design for training discrete psychomotor skills. It will be of value to organisations and institutions providing training and education mediated by technology as well as those involved in the design of training interventions.

After a thorough literature review on multinational learning, it is apparent organizations “learn” when they capitalize on expatriate management, a “learning strategy” (international work teams, employee involvement and other human resource policies), technology transfer and political environment and cross‐cultural adaptation. This suggests learning is possible when control mechanisms are relaxed or reduced, resulting in an ambiguous relationship between multinational learning and control. There has been no research on the relationship between learning and control largely due to this assumption of ambiguity and this paper attempts to overcome this gap by presenting a holistic approach to multinational learning and control. This paper posits that focusing on optimizing learning and control through flexible IHRM policies is a globally sustainable approach to MNE management. The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework designed to address two major issues in international management: organizational learning and managerial control.

Multinational organizations are often faced with a perceived ambiguous choice of promoting learning throughout the organization in a way that facilitates local adaptation of corporate knowledge, while maintaining control over subsidiary corporate culture (control). This paper presents a new model designed to facilitate a balanced approach to learning and control in the multinational enterprise.

The proposed model is one of sustainable management focusing on dynamic IHRM learning and control. The pillars of the proposed model thus include: National Culture, HRM policies and practices and IHRM strategies of the parent MNE; National Culture, locally developed HRM policies and practices, and transferred IHRM policies and practices in the affiliate unit; sharing of learning oriented IHRM policies and/or among MNE affiliates only; and global IHRM control and learning IHRM policies and practices (uniform across MNE units).

While the literature in this realm addresses these issues separately, managers are faced with a delicate balancing act of promoting learning among multinational units while maintaining corporate control over key aspects of the company's core competencies.

The purpose of this paper is to adopt a learning-based approach to portray the impact of Covid-19 on state school services in Italy, with a specific focus on the role of street-level bureaucrats and the triggering of co-creative processes.

The study proposes a qualitative system dynamics (or SD) approach describing the implementation of Covid-related educational policies in Italy. An insight model, made of causal loop diagrams, integrates the selected multi-disciplinary literature and institutional sources, secondary data from national and local reports (about Palermo, the fifth largest metropolitan city in Italy) and insights from a panel of school street–level bureaucrats.

The study provides an insight into the impacts of governmental decisions (school closures and the subsequent need to activate distance learning during the first wave of Covid-19) at a local level. Specifically, it portrays the influences of managerial and professional discretion, infrastructural equipment and socio-economic factors favouring/deterring co-creative educational processes.

The SD model highlights vicious/virtuous circles in policy implementation and suggests new managerial paths for education, more routed towards public value creation and less attached to bureaucratic procedures and the unquestioning application of performance culture.

The paper proposes an original and holistic approach to dealing with policy making in education and its managerial features. The research findings are considered important, not only to face the current emergency, but also to pro-actively think about the post-Covid era.

All countries use public procurement to some degree to further policy objectives such as sustainability, innovation, fighting fraud and corruption, value for taxpayers' money etc. Countries may learn from past successes and failures in other countries while implementing these policies: cross-country learning. In this exploratory study, we investigate cross-country learning across two frequently used policy areas: sustainability and innovation. A threefold methodology was used that consisted of (1) an extensive review of scientific literature complemented by (2) a thorough examination of policy documents and (3) interviews with leading public procurement experts from 10 countries including both developing and developed countries. The main findings indicate that there is no hard evidence for cross-country learning. Even if cross-country learning would exist, the lessons learned seem to remain largely implicit.

Spontaneous inter-organizational learning differs from organizational learning in that the latter relies on conflict occurring within the organization prior to action being taken. Inter-organizational learning suggests that organizations have the opportunity to learn from the experiences of others and proactively establish policies and regulations either preventing or lessening the chances that a similar situation will occur in their organization. The description "spontaneous" is proposed to differentiate serendipitous and intentional opportunities for learning. A public federal level case study is presented in support of spontaneous interorganizational learning.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which workplace learning forms a building block in national lifelong learning policies by obtaining evidence, first-hand, from mental health practitioners about their perceptions of their individual country's national lifelong learning policy and, in particular, its application to adults with long-term mental illness.

Text analysis: review of relevant literature and European Union policy documents and survey questionnaire.

It is evident that the use of workplace learning as a linchpin in national strategies for lifelong learning in Denmark and France is clear and empirically supported.

Comparative evidence of evaluations of impact and effectiveness of workplace lifelong learning provision in the two countries examined is patchy at best raising further questions about the “value” of investments in both workplace learning and lifelong learning in these countries.

There is a risk that by focusing on jobs and workplace learning, the specific needs and desires of people with mental illness who, in the main, might want to engage in lifelong learning for reasons other than jobs and workplace learning, may end up being disadvantaged as their (non-economic) needs go unmet.

Until now there has been little or no attempt to examine Europe's conception of lifelong learning policy and its application to a multiple disadvantaged group such as mental health service users. This is a major attempt to remedy current dearth of research in the area.

The issue of climate change raises new requirements for the way our societies work. Even though climate policy is regarded as being crucial on the way to a low carbon society, the coordination of technology and climate policy proves difficult. The purpose of this paper is to look closer into the challenges and experiences related to the coordination between climate and technology policy in order to draw lessons for the future integration of both policy fields.

In this paper a case study approach is applied to the policy coordination efforts in two countries: Denmark and the UK. From a theoretical point the study is informed by the literature on the dimensions of policy learning and the findings of innovation and transition studies.

The case studies provide important lessons how important flexibility and continues policy learning and its institutionalization will be on the way towards a low carbon society. However, it becomes clear that the price of this flexibility is the risk of “symbolic action”, respectively, postponing emission reduction measures.

The findings are drawn from two countries, however it remains not fully clear in how far the instruments and approaches from countries like Denmark and the UK can be applied in a similar way in other countries.

The paper provides an important discussion of contradictions between climate and technology policy from the perspective of the literature in innovation studies and policy learning.

This paper maps the organizational learning processes in a policy intervention program. A state department of social services designed an intervention for local agencies and implemented it with a university. A closer observation of patterns detected organizational learning in local agencies by the increase in the penetration rate-a ratio of federal to state funding. An organizational learning model is constructed to understand the organizational learning process in this particular instance. The model includes learning modes and the roles that the policy knowledge instigators had played in the process. Each mode and role is defined and the model is refined based on in-depth interviews with participants in the learning process.

The plethora of contributions to social learning has resulted in a wide range of interpretations, meanings and applications of social learning, both within and across disciplines. However, advancing the concept and using social learning methods and tools in areas like disaster-shocks requires interdisciplinary consolidation of understandings. In this context, the primary focus of this paper is on the contributions of social learning to disaster risk reduction (DRR).

By applying a three-round policy Delphi process involving 18 purposefully selected scholars and expert-practitioners, the authors collected data on the meanings of social learning for two groups of professionals, DRR and social-ecological resilience. The survey instruments included questions relating to the identification of the core elements of social learning and the prospects for enhancing social-ecological resilience.

The results revealed strong agreement that (1) the core elements of social learning indicate a collective, iterative and collaborative process that involves sharing/networking, changes in attitudes and knowledge and inclusivity; (2) social learning from disasters is unique; and (3) linkages between disciplines can be built by promoting interdisciplinarity, networks and knowledge platforms; collaboration and coordination at all levels; and teaching and practicing trust and respect. Social learning is useful in preparing for and responding to specific disaster events through communication; sharing experience, ideas and resources; creating synergies for collective action and promoting resilience.

The policy Delphi process involved a limited number of participants to control the quality of the data. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind to identify the core elements of social learning, specifically, in the disaster-shock context. It also makes significant contributions to the interdisciplinary integration issues.

The practical implications of this study are related to pre-disaster planning and mitigation through the application of social learning on disaster-shocks.

The social implications of this study are related to valuing social learning for the improvement of disaster planning, management, and policy formulation and implementation in reducing disaster risks.

The study provides a consensus view on the core elements of social learning and its role in DRR and resilience building. Relevant to all stages of DRR, social learning is best characterized as a collective, iterative and collaborative process. It can be promoted by enhancing networking and interdisciplinarity.