The Broadening Role Of The Learning And Development Industry

Education is not just about imparting knowledge to the next generation; it also comprises instruction and training in a wide variety of subjects.

- Jordan Low

In the vast majority of countries, formal education is state-funded or subsidised up to a certain age. However, for-profit education has emerged alongside state education, mainly due to market demand. Tertiary education in particular is a great driver of the private education industry.

But another sector that’s emerging in the education sector is the professional learning and development industry. Learning and development (L&D) professionals wear many hats and continue to gain new responsibilities beyond their traditional role of deploying training programs at the request of business leaders. Learning professionals are now taking a more strategic and proactive role in planning and developing training that’s aligned with business goals and, therefore, improves organizational performance.

THE GROWTH OF LEARNING

People now rate the “opportunity to learn” as among their top reasons for taking a job, and business leaders know that changes in technology, longevity, work practices, and business models have created a tremendous demand for continuous, lifelong development. Leading organizations are taking steps to deliver learning to their people in a more personal way, integrating work and learning more tightly with each other, extending ownership for learning beyond the HR organization, and looking for ways to bring solutions we use in our daily lives into the learning environment at work.

Evolving work demands and skills requirements are one big reason. Business leaders, as well as workers themselves, are worried about how technologies such as robotics and AI could change jobs and how people should prepare to do them.