The social-institutional endorsement towards the perspective of recognising and enhancing learning acquired outside the formal education and training contexts (non-formal and informal learning), has been gaining strength and has entered policy agendas throughout Europe, but also in other major non-European countries. Nevertheless there are still several open issues on this topic both at an institutional and technical level. This paper does not intend to give answers or propose a theory. Instead, it will attempt to formulate some reflections and open work pathways on some basic aspects: (1) What is--or isn't--non-formal/informal learning? (2) For whom and with which tools are European countries dealing with the issue of the relationships between formal and non-formal/informal learning? and (3) How, in operational practice, is the enhancement of non-formal/informal learning dealt with? (Contains 2 figures and 4 footnotes.)