The role of small enterprise in Australian school students' workplace learning was examined. First, the literature on structured workplace learning in Australia, Europe, and North America was reviewed. Next, four structured learning programs in South Australia and four in New South Wales were studied. Interviews were conducted with a total of 41 students, 18 school staff, and 26 small enterprise personnel. The following were among the key research findings: (1) there is little shared coherent understanding between schools and small business enterprises as to what constitutes "structured workplace learning"; (2) small enterprises were not normally informed about the nature of structured workplace learning; (3) students did not generally understand the differences between"structured workplace learning" and "work experience"; (4) employers generally saw few benefits to their firms from taking on workplace learning students; and (5) the framework for structured workplace learning has been targeted at big business and has been constructed predominantly from the schools' perspective. The study confirmed the need for further improvement of the relationships between schools and small enterprises and the need to foster more meaningful workplace learning for students based on models of partnership. The school personnel, student, and small enterprise interview proformas and discussion questions are appended. (Contains 79 references.) (MN)