The Politics of the Training Market

Training has in recent years become one of the most salient issues in British politics. From the "enterprise culture" of the Thatcher years emerged the new concept of the training market, and the recent establishment of the Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs). These developments are at the centre of the debate between market and state-led approaches to training. Drawing on the theoretical methodology of major policy analysts and political scientists, "The Politics of the Training Market" sets the current debate in the context of changing initiatives over the past 30 years. Brendan Evans explains the policy processes and ideological assumptions underpinning recent innovations, and offers a searching and up-to-date analysis of the outcomes of both the TEC and training voucher experiments. Finally, the author reflects on the new "hybrid" political forms produced by recent training policy.