Vers une formation «continue» de la main-d'oeuvre au Québec ?

Résumé

Dans ce texte, l'auteure se demande si les pratiques récentes des entreprises québécoises dans le domaine de la formation de la main-d’œuvre sont de nature à développer les compétences de cette même main-d’œuvre. Pour répondre à cette question, elle examine les innovations de formation des entreprises en se demandant si elles vont dans le sens d'une formation continue de la main-d’œuvre. L'examen porte d'abord sur la dynamique des innovations de formation au sein de l'entreprise, ensuite sur les liens qu'elles entretiennent avec l'organisation du travail, sur les relations qu'elles induisent entre l'école et l'entreprise et, finalement, sur l'inscription de ces formations dans le temps. Si l'auteure conclut à un changement significatif des pratiques de formation des entreprises, elle note pourtant que celles-ci sont encore trop axées sur les objectifs productivistes de l'entreprise et s'inscrivent trop peu souvent dans le sens d'une formation « continue » de la main-d’œuvre.

Abstract

Analysts of the world of work agree that labour force skills are strategic in ensuring economic competitiveness in a global economy. Moreover, given frequent changes in employment, labour force qualification will increasingly have to be founded on a solid basic education leading to lifelong continuous training opportunities.

With the implementation of the Act to foster the development of manpower training(S.Q. 1995 c. 43), debates in Quebec about the notions of a "transferable or qualifying" training would suggest that the Act was essentially aimed at generic academic-type training. Even though these notions were espoused in the Act, they did not translate into particular constraints for firms. This article examines the training provided in recent years by Quebec firms to develop their labour force's skills and seeks to assess the likelihood of continuous manpower training in Quebec.

Nine criteria, grouped into four major categories, are used to define innovative as opposed to traditional or Taylorist training: the dynamics of training within the firm, the link between training and work organization, the relations between school and firm, and the temporal organization of training.

In terms of the dynamics of training, what seems to emerge from recent experiences is that instead of casting training activities solely in response to environmental change, firms are becoming proactive. Strategie training programs are articulated with particular company goals and are thus planned to meet these goals. Training thus becomes an important factor in overall planning. Moreover, in using training as a strategie tool, managers in Quebec firms have recently realized that the sums invested in training should yield results. This is the idea of training as an investment.

However, it is mainly through the links between training and the organization of work that innovative training can be seen in Quebec. What is really new in recent training programs is that they are most often linked to important changes in work organization. We are thus coming close to the idea of a skill enhancing or leaming organization which facilitates leaming and Personal development for all its employees while continuing to transform itself.

Innovations in workplace training also take place through closer links between firm and school. Either the firm becomes a place for training or it establishes much closer ties with the school in order to train its own staff.

By referring to a transferable or qualifying training, one of the goals of the Act was to encourage training leading to a particular diploma or qualifications, thus enhancing worker mobility. However, it must be said that this goal is not attained in the majority of workplace training programs, even in the most recent ones. In fact, it seems that a transferable or qualifying training is still quite marginal in the wide range of company training programs. The more practical work-related training programs, sometimes within new forms of work organization, still seem to predominate over those that deal with behaviour and attitudes at work.

Another characteristic of innovative training examined in this study relates to the way that it is organized over time. In addition to being longer than before, recent training programs are different from traditional ones which were designed to respond to particular changes. This new training most often seeks to anticipate change and thus can be offered before the change occurs. However, the long-term academic-type training is still rare.

In terms of an overall assessment, when the characteristics of innovative training are compared with those of more traditional training, it must be said that training in the workplace is progressing well. Although Bill 90 was considered by some as a "tidying up exercise," it is part of an overall context of change which will have caused firms to redefine the logic of their training. However, this new logic is still profoundly economistic and productivist. Notions of strategie training or training as an investment invariably entall an emphasis on high productivity, on tangible material results linked solely to economic goals. The new discourse on "skills," which has been gaining ground in firms as a result of the shift in government programs, is also part of this productivist logic.

For as long as people are required to make frequent changes in employment during their working lives, one of the challenges of workplace training in the coming years will be to find a new balance between workrelated skills and the basic academic-type knowledge that is necessary for workers to be able to learn and thus continue lifelong learning. A key aspect of lifelong learning is the link between school and firm which, henceforth, must be thought of as paths with multiple directions. Schools should recognize skills acquired through work and adapt their pedagogical methods to an adult clientele. Firms should also accept the principle of alternating between work and studies. Firms must not only take on the responsibility for training their labour force but also the future labour force. In this sense, firms should be more open to academic-type training that emphasizes basic knowledge not directly related to work.

Resumen

En este texto, el autor se pregunta si las practicas recientes de las empresas quebequences en el campo de la formaciòn de la mano de obra son del tipo que desarrollaran los conocimientos de la dicha mano de obra. Para responder a esta pregunta, se examina las innovaciones en el campo de la formaciòn de las empresas preguntàndose si estàn en lìnea con el objetivo de una formaciòn continua de la mano de obra. El examen nos lleva en un principio a analizar la dinàmica de las innovaciones en el campo de la formaciòn de la mano de obra dentro de las empresas, después el anàlisis se realiza sobre las conexiones que estas mantienen con la organizaciòn del trabajo, sobre las relaciones que estas inducen entre la escuela y la empresa y, finalmente, sobre la localizaciòn de tal formaciòn en el tiempo. Si el autor concluye a un cambio radical en las practicas de la formaciòn de la mono de obra de las empresas, se notan por tanto que estos cambios son aun muy basados en los objetivos de productividad de la empresa y se inscriben muy poco dentro de! sentido de una verdadera formaciòn continua de la mano de obra.