Overview

Although the terms are loosely synonymous, a distinction can be made between training and education. The dictionary defines the two terms as follows:

Educate

1. To develop the innate capacities of, especially by schooling or instruction.

2. To stimulate or develop the mental or moral growth of.

Train

1. To coach in or accustom to a mode of behavior or performance.

2. To make proficient with specialized instruction and practice.

Education is seen to be more general and more focused on mental processes. In other words, education teaches people how to think. It enhances the mind s ability to deal with reality. Education is more theoretical and conceptual in nature. The essentials of past knowledge are taught for the purpose of teaching students how to appraise new events and situations. Education equips students to acquire new knowledge. Generally, people bring a certain educational background to their job with them. Employers typically fund ongoing education of employees, but they do not usually provide it for the employees. Education is more likely the responsibility of the individual employee, possibly because education is more generally applicable and more portable than is training. Thus, the employee s education is readily transferable to new employers.

Training focuses more on doing. Training is more job-focused than education. The emphasis is on maintaining or improving skills needed to perform the current job, or on acquiring new job skills. Training is usually paid for, and often provided, by the employer. Often, training is employer-specific and the skills acquired may not always transfer readily to another employer.

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