Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the learning climate in elderly care, its potential improvements after the "Steps for skills," and its influence on knowledge from formal training. The assumptions were: the different activities of the Steps for skills should enhance the perceived learning climate; differences in working conditions in home help and residential homes should influence the perceived learning climate and its improvements; and changes in the perception of the learning climate should bring changes in the perceived usefulness of new knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: The study is a case study carried out in the public elderly care in Sweden, and used a repeated measurements design. A total of 270 nursing assistants answered a questionnaire at Time I, and 174 at Time II. Findings: Results show no improvements of the learning climate for the full sample. When contrasting the learning climate in home help services and in residential homes significant differences are found, and also a tendency for their learning climate to change in opposite directions. The perception of the learning climate seems to influence the perceived usefulness of new knowledge. Research limitations/implications: The sample was from one single organization. Practical implications: Developmental interventions should take in to consideration that context matters, and that the perceived learning climate influences the use of new knowledge. Originality/value: In this study, a 15-items learning climate scale (LCS) is presented. Another contribution is identifying working condition failure as a potential explanation to why interventions usually do not result in expected changes. (Contains 3 tables and 2 notes.)