Women returners are women who leave the paid workforce for a period of time following the birth of their child(ren) and subsequently seek to return to paid employment. As women returners attempt to re–enter the workforce, many of them are in need of updating their skills or re–training in a new set of skills. In this study, the training and development needs of women returners were examined. The Andragogy in Practice model was used to frame the study and construct a learner analysis of women returners. Implications for designing and implementing training and development programs for women returners in the United States are discussed.
BennettsL. (2007). The feminine mistake: Are we giving up too much?New York: Hyperion Books.
3.
BirdE. (1999). Lifelines and life lines: Re–training for women returning to higher level occupations – policy and practice in the UK. International Journal of Lifelong Education18, 203–216.
4.
BraunV., & ClarkeV. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77–101.
5.
CabreraE. F. (2009). Protean organizations: Reshaping work and careers to retain female talent. Career Development International, 14, 186–201.
6.
CavenV. (2004). Constructing a career: Women architects at work. Career Development International, 9, 518–531.
ClaytonP. (1996). A transnational study of vocational guidance and counseling provision for women returners. Adults Learning, 8, 40–41.
10.
CohanyS. R., & SokE. (2007, February). Trends in labor force participation of married mothers of infants. Monthly Labor Review, 9–16.
11.
DoorewaardH., HendrickxJ., & VerschurenP. (2004). Work orientations of female returners. Work, Employment and Society, 18, 7–27.
12.
EvansK. (1995). Barriers to participation of women in technological education and the role of distance education. Occasional paper number 1. Vancouver: Commonwealth of Learning.
13.
GouthroP. A. (2005). A critical feminist analysis of the homeplace as learning site: Expanding the discourse of lifelong learning to consider adult women learners. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 24, 5–19.
14.
Grant–ValloneE. J., & EnsherE. A. (2011). Opting in between: Strategies used by professional women with children to balance work and family. Journal of Career Development, 38, 331–348.
15.
HermanC., & KirkupG. (2008). Learners in transition: The use of ePortfoilios for women returners to science, engineering and technology. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 45, 67–76.
16.
HewlettS. A., & LuceC. B. (2005). Off–ramps and on–ramps. Harvard Business Review, 83(3), 43–54.
17.
HewlettS. A., SherbinL., & ForsterD. (2010). Off–ramps and on–ramps revisited. Harvard Business Review, 88(6), 30.
18.
HoltonE. F.III, SwansonR. A., & NaquinS. S. (2001). Andragogy in practice: Clarifying the andragogical model of adult learning. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 14, 118–143.
19.
HsiehH., & ShannonS. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15, 1277–1288.
20.
JenkinsA. (2006). Women, lifelong learning and transitions into employment. Work, Employment, and Society, 20, 309–328.
21.
KnowlesM. S. (1968). Andragogy, not pedagogy. Adult Leadership, 16, 350–352, 386.
22.
KnowlesM. S., HoltonE. F.III, & SwansonR. A. (1998). The adult learner (5th ed.). Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing.
RoomesE., FaulknerW., & Van SlootenI. V. (2005). Changing lives: The case for women–only vocational technology training revisited. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 57, 293–311.
28.
RosenfeldR. A. (1996). Women's work histories. Population and Development Review, 22(Supplement: Fertility in the United States: New Patterns, New Theories), 199–222.
29.
ShapiroM., IngolsC., O'NeillR., & Blake–Beard. (2009). Making sense of women as career self–agents: Implications for human resource development. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 20, 477–501.
30.
ShawS., TaylorM., & HarrisI. (2000). Jobs for the girls: A study of the careers of professional women returners following participation in a European funded updating programme. Career Development International, 5, 295–300.
31.
SheridanL. (1992). Women returners to further education: Employment and gender relations in the home. Gender & Education, 4, 213–228.
32.
SommerladH., & SandersonP. (1997). The legal labour market and the training needs of women returners in the United Kingdom. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 49, 45–64.
33.
SwarbrickA. (1986). Women in technology: A scheme for women engineer returners. European Journal of Engineering Education, 11, 339–349.
ValcourM., & LadgeJ. J. (2008). Family and career path characteristics as predictors of women's objective and subjective career success: Integrating traditional and protean career explanations. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 73, 300–309.
