Purpose: This paper seeks to present a theoretical framework with the aim of contributing to improved understanding of how reflection can provide a mechanism to integrate research-based knowledge with the pre-existing practice-based knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: The paper begins with an explanation of important concepts: research-based…

In this study, teachers and workplace supervisors in two vocational programmes at a Swedish upper secondary school were interviewed about their experiences of what is important to teach and learn during vocational education. The interviews were analysed thematically by the qualitative method analysis of narratives concerning what the informants…

During a number of years Swedish municipalities have work with improvement of competence and long-term quality in elderly care. The overall aim of the present study was to compare different learning activities (workplace improvement and/or courses), and to relate these activities to learning climate, learning strategies, and perception of care…

Purpose: This paper aims to illuminate and analyse the participants' experiences of the influences of a dialogue intervention. Cooperation and coordination in health care require planning of dialogically oriented communication to prevent stress and ill health and to promote health, well-being, learning, and efficiency in the organisation.…

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the link between age and proficiency in information-processing skills, based on information drawn from the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). The data reveal significant age-related differences in proficiencies, strongly suggesting that proficiency tends to "naturally" decline with age. Age…

Placements have the potential to contribute more effectively to the quality of higher education. The aim of this article is to discuss how placements can be made more worthwhile for individual students, while also contributing to the overall quality of teaching and learning at HEIs as well as to the development of workplace cultures that are…

Purpose: Work-place learning takes place in many settings and in different ways, resulting in knowledge and skills of different kinds. The recognition process in the work place is however often implicit and seldom discussed in terms of recognition of prior learning (RPL). The aim of this paper is to give examples of how the knowledge/skills of…

Professional experience in preschool settings comprises an important part of the education of preschool teachers. During their placements, students are expected to link theory to practice, to integrate university-based knowledge with workplace-based knowledge and skills essential for their future profession. They often refer to a perceived gap…

In vocational education, teaching and learning are expected to take place in the different learning arenas; schools and workplaces. In such a dual school system, the question of transfer is vital, i.e. how to use knowledge learned in previous situations in new situations. This article is an empirical contribution to research concerning transfer,…

This article reports on the findings of a planned workplace health promotion intervention, and the aim is to identify conditions that facilitated or restricted the learning to promote health at an emergency care department in a Swedish hospital. The study had a longitudinal design, with interviews before and after the intervention and follow-up…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate individuals' learning and propensity for changing their job situation during downsizing in a company. Design/methodology/approach: A case study was carried out in an industrial company that had undergone major downsizing to adapt to changes in production. Approximately 100 employees retrained at…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze learning in a Swedish trade union board in a workplace, according to contemporary challenges in working life and conditions, of decentralization and local independency of trade union work and learning. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on ethnographic studies of two Swedish local trade…

The research discussed in this article focuses on workplace learning in industrial manufacturing work. Everyday work episodes contributing to workplace learning are investigated in four companies operating in the Finnish and Swedish package-supplier sectors. The research adopts a qualitative, interpretive approach. Interviews with employees and…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore home care nurses' experience of learning in a multicultural environment. Design/methodology/approach: The study was based on qualitative research design. Data were collected through repeated interviews with registered home care nurses working in a multicultural area. The data were analyzed through a…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to present the results of a study of an industrial company's top management team (TMT) that fought to survive an economic crisis. Specifically, the article seeks to focus on describing the TMT's composition, group processes, and work during a period of high external pressure; analysing the TMT's work in…