This paper analyses the distribution of employment-related organised education and informal learning in the Canadian workforce. The paper draws on a large-scale survey, the Changing Nature of Work and Lifelong Learning (WALL), which was based on structured and standardised telephone interviews with a representative sample of 5783 Canadian members…

This paper focuses on the issue of emancipation in education practices in general and in vocational education and training (VET) in particular. The principal aim is to contribute to the discussion of particular traditions of emancipation in education in connection with VET practices. The exploration of ongoing educational debates on VET…

This article about workplace learning examines the learning of individuals in becoming a Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) teacher in Brunei. Drawing on research findings from a group of student teachers, it presents case study accounts of three individuals to illustrate the importance of social relationships in learning to become a VTE…

This article investigates the innovation concept in two key welfare areas where the demands for innovation are substantial, namely vocational education and elder care. On the basis of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews on the collaboration between an educational institution and elder care services, the article develops a tripartite empirical…

Recent years have seen the health and social care and education sectors subject to a range of policy initiatives which have been characterised by a concern for "modernisation" and restructuring of the workforce which has resulted in a reappraisal and so-called "professionalisation" of many existing previously lowskill roles. This has resulted in…

This article considers the underachievement of RPL in the Australian vocational education and training (VET) system, in terms of its apparent failure to reach and achieve outcomes for marginalised groups. It notes a range of analyses that are currently used to address this concern and draws on doctoral research in progress to highlight ontological…

Workplace learning research has taken what could be termed a turn to the subjective. This brings the person and agency of workers to the centre of work learning theory. Within sociocultural perspectives that emphasise participative practice as the basis of vocational learning, a key concept that emerges from this subject centred approach is…

This article draws upon research funded by the National Council for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) on trends in teaching and learning in vocational education and training (VET) in Australia and internationally in the United Kingdom and Europe and from a series of workshops on innovation in teaching and learning in VET which the authors…

This paper describes an analysis of interview transcripts for 77 first- and second-year students enrolled in a vocational education course for child-care work. The purpose was to identify their conceptions of learning. All six categories of conceptions, as identified originally by Martin et al. (1993), were found. However, more than 50% of the…

Much had been written over the past few years on the intersections of work and learning. This article suggests that the analysis of the intersections of work and learning can benefit greatly from understanding the ways in which governing workers as individuals and populations has changed in Western liberal democracies in the latter part of the…

This article proposes the need to address scaffold instructions from a situated learning perspective. Based on an empirical study of how apprentice bakers learn their trade, it is claimed that studies of learning at the workplace yield important insights into our understanding of scaffold instructions. Seen from the perspective of the apprentices,…

This paper is concerned with the relationship between trade unions and learning in the workplace, particularly in relation to the enhancement of worker employability profiles. With the restructuring and modernising of the European steel industry as its context, this paper argues that the organisational and structural features of a sector have a…

The adoption of a more "open" national training market in vocational education and training (VET) in Australia has led to considerable changes in VET organizations and considerable challenges for VET managers. Recent research has established the critical role that 'strategy' plays in leading and managing these organizations and the significance of…

Recent research on learning in work situations has focused on concepts such as 'productive learning' and 'pedagogy of vocational learning'. In investigating what makes learning productive and what pedagogies enhance this, there is a tendency to take the notion of learning as unproblematic. This paper argues that much writing on workplace learning…

This article stems from the study of the process and application of Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) in the French higher education system, in France referred to as VAP (Validation des Acquis Professionnels ). The paper seeks to review not only the context in which the concepts underpinning VAP in France have developed, but also…