My interest happens to be in the way work-based learning happens within highly regulated public services in which performance is subject to scrutiny.

In this context, organisations I work with need to:

1. Identify the skills / competences they require from their staff in order to be able to create and deliver the product / service they specialise in

2. Identify the most appropriate personnel to recruit and to develop

3. Identify the most appropriate manner to deliver the training and facilitate learning

4. Ensure that the most key elements within the training delivered has 'stuck'

5. For compliance reasons, have continual monitoring systems in place to provide early warning of a deteriation in skills / performance

Given that public sector departments in the UK and elsewhere are facing cutbacks and budget decreases of staggering proportions. Senior staff and decision makers have to know whether learning provided is appropriate and is meeting the needs of their organisation and their clientale. It is all very nice and fluffy to say that evaluation is a meaningless exercise because strong TNA was in place to identify the need for training to be provided, but organisations also need to know every penny / dollar is being wisely spent.

Organisations tend to be staffed by human beings each of whom has vested interests - not least in keeping their jobs, so independent monitoring has to be in place.

As an educator I totally agree that learning is a process which starts well before a learning 'event' and will continue well after. Therefore understanding the limitations of evaluation an exercise or set of exercises is vital. Critically, within the sector I operate in, evaluation is generally seen as ‘part of the problem’ rather than ‘part of the solution’ when it comes down to providing senior staff and budget holders with meaningful information in respect to the appropriateness and efficacy of training provided.

In short, evaluation MUST play an important part in organisational decision-making but evaluation processes need to operate within clear cut boundaries and their limitations clearly mapped out. In addition, the information provided through evaluation processes need to be less ‘techno-speak’ with evaluations written for and can only be understood by Psychology Post-Graduates.