This article aims to explore how the situation of unemployment and -- more generally -- early job insecurity affects young people's scope for exercising agency with regard to decisions about continuing and improving their education. Drawing on the theoretical underpinnings of the capability approach, the article develops the concept of patterns of…

There is a need to connect workplace learning and essential skills to a larger domain of workplace learning in general. To do this, the contexts in which learning takes place, and the cultures of the actors and environments involved, should be taken into consideration. Although research on the direct effects of contexts and cultures on workplace…