Between Apathy and Enthusiasm: An International Comparison of MPs ’ Attitudes Towards Parliamentary Training

Newly elected parliamentarians face multifaceted challenges in representation, budgeting, and office-management. Added to this are policy-knowledge, under-standing, facilitating and scrutinising legislation, and learning the rules of proced-ure. To support Members of Parliaments (MPs), many assemblies offer induction and training programmes. While some parliamentarians embrace those pro-grammes as useful for increasing their knowledge, skills and abilities, others state that their role is best learned ‘on the job’. Understanding, why MPs respond differently to training offers will help to better target professional devel-opment programmes to particular groups or types of parliamentarians. As part of the Parliamentary Careers project, this article explores whether the MPs ’ training-attitude can be linked to their socio-demographic background, their previous careers in- and outside parliament, structural issues or particular political cultures. Based on 70 interviews conducted at eight national legislatures it identifies differ-ent types of training compliance. 1. Background and context of research Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, the Parliamentary Careers project1 looks at a total of 60 national parliaments and investigates what knowl-edge, skills and abilities assist MPs in successfully fulfilling their responsibilities. It examines the nature and content of professional development programme