Work and Learning in Micro-enterprises in the Printing Industry

Work and learning in microenterprises in the printing industries of four European Community (EC) countries were examined through 17 case studies of firms with 10 or fewer employees (5 firms in Finland and 4 each in Ireland, the Netherlands, and Spain). Structured interviews were conducted with each firm's owner and a total of 90 staff at the 17 firms. Firms were not selected randomly; rather, they were selected because of their active use of training to adapt their staff to technological, economic, and organizational change. The differences in training practices at the 17 firms proved more related to firm size than country-specific situations. Prepress firms were the most dynamic, and press firms were the least dynamic. Of the 63 employees actually involved in the printing process, 23 (36%) had no initial vocational education for the sector. Fewer than one-third of the printers interviewed (including only 4 of the 23 employees without initial vocational education) had participated in continuing training during the previous 3 years. Many employees kept their qualifications up to date through incidental learning (including learning by solving problems individually or with colleagues, asking for help from experienced colleagues, and learning under the boss or an experienced worker). (Contains 18 tables/figures) (MN)