From the mid 1980s, debates about economic restructuring in Australia and in many other parts of the developed world increasingly focussed on the importance of the skills of the workforce for competitive advantage. Thus the mechanisms by which skills are acquired, accredited and rewarded became of increasing concern to human resource managers, industrial relations actors, and national policy makers, and, of course, employees. Training has thus become an increasingly central component of strategic human resource management and public policy. The latest chapter in this story has been how the expansion of service sector work has affected the conceptualization of ‘skill’ and (since skill is the outcome of learning) the practice of training. This course critically examines the theory and practice of learning and development, including aspects of Australia’s National Training Framework. Some opportunities for the development of practical training skills and techniques are provided. Issues covered include – the context of training; the nature of skill and ‘competence’; employability skills; learning theory and adult learning; ‘collective learning’ and ‘knowledge management’ in ‘communities of practice’, training needs analysis, design, delivery and evaluation; national training ‘models’; the Australian National Training Framework.