The changing nature of work and the role of educational processes and cultures of practice and research in helping put people back into the center of learning and preparing individuals for lifelong learning were examined in the context of Australia's technical and further education institutes, higher educational facilities, and private providers. The examination focused on the following issues: (1) critical/interpretivist and deterministic/technocratic frameworks; (2) political and economic discourses; (3) economic rationalism (instrumentalism); (4) neocorporatism and federal corporatism; (5) managerialism; (6) human capital theory; (7) functionalism and vocational education and training policy initiatives; and (8) merger of the cultures of practice and research and the delivery of higher education to mature lifelong learners. The notions of lifelong learning as a culture of learning practice and lifelong learning as a culture of learning via research were explored through case studies of a carpenter with a master's degree and a plumber with a Ph.D. The Melbourne University Faculty of Education's alignment with the shifting trajectories of university education, training, teaching and research were discussed. Special attention was paid to the faculty's new Master of Educational Management program, revised Bachelor of Vocational Education and Training, and movement toward an inclusive model of practice and research. (Contains 21 references.) (MN)