Transfer of Training in Lifelong Learning Education and Beyond

Dear Colleagues,

Training transfer—the degree to which trainees apply what they have learned in training in their workplace—has drawn a lot of attention within the organizational context for the past few decades but little advancement has been made in other contexts. Traditionally, only employees were evaluated in their transfer to the workplace, within their job environment, but transfer of learning processes tend to start earlier in life. Some of them when studying a degree, others while studying a vocational education program, and some others when people feel they need to reinvent themselves and change profession. Thus, training transfer is no longer understood as how employees apply what they learned in training into the workplace but how students (a person who attends a learning activity and learn) transfer their learning (from degree programs, VET courses, and others) to the workplace, which includes not only organizational contexts but placement, internships, or situations in which they put into practice what they learned before. This means that the transfer process does not begin once training finishes but much earlier, usually when students are still in training because they encounter themselves in labor market situations to put into practice what they learn. 

This broader context allows us to set the starting point of transfer of training processes in lifelong learning activities, usually in vocational education or higher education programs, when the student is considered an adult. However, it is not limited to it and goes beyond. Indeed, transfer occurs way before transfer of training literature has been established and does not happen separately from learning but sometimes at the same time. It is important that scientists start to consider other situations and to explore whether the related transfer factors are or act the same as in organizational contexts.

Therefore, this Special Issue entitled “Transfer of training in Lifelong learning Education and Beyond” aims at encouraging scientists, academics, and practitioners to think outside the box of traditional contexts in which transfer of training studies have been developed over the years, such as transfer of VET placements, HE internships, employability courses, as well as refreshing or upgrading competences. This topic relates specifically with the Education Sciences journal because of their aim to contribute to the theory of education by expanding the empirical evidence about transfer of learning in lifelong learning contexts.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and systematic reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

• Transfer of training as a dynamic and continuous process;
• Training transfer impact on labor market;
• Factors that affect transfer of training in lifelong learning activities;
• Transfer within non-traditional contexts of training;
• Students’ transfer of training in placements or internships;
• Transfer of training when a long-training activity (VET programs, university degrees) finishes;
• Transfer of learning of employability courses;
• Training transfer of refreshing or upgrading competences.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Carla Quesada-Pallarès
Prof. Dr. Andreas Gegenfurtner
Dr. Helena Roig
Guest Editors

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• training transfer
• lifelong learning
• transfer environment
• learning contexts