Evaluation in workforce development

While workforce development embraces a range of policies and practices related to the management of people and culture in organisations, formal training and learning for work remains at the centre of developing the capability of any workforce. For organisations that operate across state and national boundaries, finding ways to harmonise and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of their training remains a priority. In this context, the practice of evalution has much to offer. Evaluation involved collecting information in order to draw conclusions about ways to enhance the quality and outcomes achieved from training and development activities. Drawing on the experiences of working with the Australian rail industry, this chapter examines the way in which the practices of evaluation, appropriately conceived and implemented at a national level, can support workforce development. It takes as its starting point the decision by the rail industry to adopt a national approach to training in a specified area of its workforce. A bespoke evaluation model, developed out of existing evaluation theory, which can assist organisations in making decisions to address common areas of skill development is then presented, along with some challenges and considerations that need to be addressed in order to enhance the model’s effectiveness and utility for organisations.