The concept of employability extends beyond initial occupational preparation into the ability to remain employable as, inevitably, occupational capacities and workplace requirements change frequently across working lives. Hence, the need to continually learn to remain occupationally current and respond to changing workplace requirements becomes…

Australian Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes are perhaps the most heterogeneous of the nation's educational sectors. However, TAFE institutes' capacity to provide inclusive education is constrained by their curriculum focus and pedagogical practices and culturally premised assumptions that may inhibit learning for students from…

Three Australian studies identified attributes of workplaces as learning environments: authentic activities, experts, other workers, and task engagement. Limitations of workplace learning included inappropriate knowledge, lack of access to activities, expert reluctance, absence of expertise, opaque knowledge, and problems with instructional media.…

Interviews with skilled mine workers in Queensland, Australia, suggest that informal learning in the workplace enables authentic activities, access to experts, and sociocultural environment conductive to the development of expertise. Skilled work means technical competence in a context of sociocultural values. (SK)

This paper examines how identity and learning are constituted and transformed at work. Its central concern is how individuals engage agentically in and learn through workplace practices, and in ways that transform work. Drawing upon recent research into work and participation in workplaces, the negotiated and contested relationship between…

Data from eight mentors who provided guided learning in a workplace illuminated the demands upon and benefits for workplace mentors. All mentors noted the efficacy of guiding workplace learning. However, finding time for mentoring and the low level of management support made the mentors' work intense. For some, the demands were not adequately…

Guided learning (questioning, diagrams/analogies, modeling, coaching) was studied through critical incident interviews in five workplaces. Participation in everyday work activities was the most effective contributor to workplace learning. Organizational readiness and the efficacy of guided learning in resolving novel tasks were also important. (SK)

Discusses findings of an investigation of a model of guided workplace learning in a large processing plant. The model is composed of three interdependent planes: (1) everyday participation at work; (2) guided learning for work; and (3) guided learning for transfer. (Contains 18 references.) (JOW)

Three strategies for developing conceptual knowledge in the workplace were tested in hospitality businesses: questioning, analogies, and diagrams. Proximal guidance of experts was most helpful in the construction of conceptual knowledge. Diagrams appeared least useful in this occupational context. (SK)

Three studies of how workers construct knowledge associated with vocational practice were examined within a framework classifying dispositions as interest, attitudes, and values. Findings suggest that dispositions are rooted in individual history and participation in communities of practice and that consideration of how cognitive structures…

The reciprocal process of engaging in and learning through work was examined. Reciprocity between how workplaces invite individuals to participate in and learn through work (its invitational qualities) and individuals' engagement in the workplace was proposed as a means of understanding how learning through work proceeds. Workplaces' invitational…

Transfer involves disembodying knowledge and transferring it for use in different contexts. Vocational knowledge arises in communities of practice, and difficulties arise in transferring it from one distinct community, such as a workplace, to another, such as a classroom. (SK)

Understanding how learning for small businesses should best proceed constitutes a worthwhile, yet challenging, pedagogic project. In order to maintain their viability, small businesses need to be able to respond to new practices and tasks. Yet small businesses seem neither attracted to nor to value the kinds of taught courses that are the standard…

A study conceptualized bases for learning in workplaces, examining reciprocity between how individuals are afforded access to workplace activities and guidance and how workers elect to engage in what they are offered. These reciprocal bases for thinking, acting, and learning are called "co-participation at work." The contributions that…

The contribution of competency-based training (CBT) to the development of an adaptable and flexible workforce was examined by analyzing documents and gathering data from teachers, industry representatives, enterprises, and students in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan sites in two Australian states: Victoria and Queensland. The study focused on…