Since becoming a Life Fellow in 2003, I have completed research projects on apprentice discontent and collective action in twentieth century British metalworking industry, contemporary apprenticeship training in large British companies, evaluation methods for the public funding of apprenticeship programmes in England, financial attributes of apprenticeship in Britain, Germany and Switzerland, and the structure of training markets in Switzerland. I am currently completing a project on the Apprentice Movement of 1968-73 in Germany.
Selected publications
1980 ‘The costs of training for a transferable skill,’ British Journal of Industrial Relations, November; 18(3), 334‑352.
1991 The Problem of Youth: the Regulation of Youth Employment and Training in Advanced Economies (ed. with P. Garonna and R.C. Edwards), Macmillan, London.
1995 ‘Trade union policies towards the Youth Training Scheme: patterns and causes,’ British Journal of Industrial Relations, March; 33(1), 1-33.
2001 ‘The school-to-work transition: a cross-national perspective’, Journal of Economic Literature, March; 39(1); 34-92.
2004 ‘Apprentice strikes in the twentieth century UK engineering and shipbuilding industries’, Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, Autumn; 18, 1-63.
2007 ‘Large employers and apprenticeship training in Britain’ (with H. Gospel and P. Lewis), British Journal of Industrial Relations, March; 45(1), 127-53.
2009 ‘The role of external inspection in the public services: the case of the UK training market’ (with P. Lewis), Public Administration, 87(4), 791-817.
2011 Financial aspects of apprenticeship training in Germany, Great Britain and Switzerland (with K. Wagner, S. Teuber and U. Backes-Gellner), Arbeitspapier 241. Dusseldorf: Hans-Böckler Stiftung.
2013 ‘Monopsony power, pay structure, and training’ (with S. Mühlemann and S.C. Wolter), Industrial and Labour Relations Review, Oct; 66(5), 1095-1112.