Human capital theory and the industry training strategy in New Zealand

This paper begins with the assertion that the regime of ‘perpetual training” (Deleuze 1992) will become the new regime and system which now motivates and integrates education and industry in the western world. This notion is located in the national industry training strategy for New Zealand. The first section serves to provide the policy context, focusing on public sector restructuring and the significance of the Employment Contracts Act (1991). The industry training strategy is outlined and described in some detail within the main body of the paper. This strategy is explained in terms of the underlying human capital theory, in particular, with reference to a recent OECD survey of New Zealand's economy and in terms of general workplace reform. The paper then addresses the problems inherent in human capital theory and the way it legitimizes present Government policy in education and training. Human capital theory is the most influential economic theory of education, setting the framework of government poli...