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Development activities at work require the use of abilities that include a range of methodological knowledge. This research seeks to develop and promote these abilities into the curriculum.

The paper analyses information from a variety of subject areas about the teaching and learning of practitioner‐led research and development projects. An action research approach was used in which staff across one university were asked to draw on best practice and expertise.

Differing approaches to practitioner‐led research were identified. A web‐based resource to facilitate the understanding of methodology in the practitioner‐led projects of students on work‐based and work‐related university programmes was developed.

It is difficult to learn how to become a successful practitioner researcher outside of the “real‐time” contexts of the work environment.

To manage successful developments at work, students need to become “practitioner‐researchers”. The web‐based resource provides searchable examples of projects undertaken at work in placements and by part time students in their full time work. Practice‐based project information on a generic template cuts across the disciplines and uses a range of different methodologies. The practitioner‐led projects result in change or recommendations for change in professional practice.

This paper focuses especially on the methodological approaches used by undergraduate students. This kind of understanding is normally expected in the postgraduate curriculum where students are more likely to have work‐based experience. Data represented various and differing standpoints regarding research paradigms, different disciplinary practices and different practices between the Professions.

Work based programs of study are being constructed between universities and organizations, increasingly in the UK. This article explores some of the tensions between the organization and individual employees in gaining benefit from the programs. The article draws on evidence from individual employees and managers of two university centers that run work based programs. Individual employees were found to gain considerable benefit from the programs although there were sometimes tensions about the nature of their studies. Organizations gained short‐term benefits and it was suggested that greater benefit could be gained if they managed the knowledge in their organizations more effectively.

During the last few years there has been an increase of interest in work-based learning (WBL), which can be understood as a process of both developing workplace skills and promoting labor force productivity. This paper aims to map the scientific landscape related to WBL research worldwide.

combined bibliometrics and network analysis techniques to analyze data of scientific publications related to WBL indexed at the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection.

results show an increase of publications over time: Education & Educational Research as the most frequent research area to which the articles were assigned, the UK and Australia as the main countries and Monash University (Australia) and Middlesex University (England) as the main organizations producing knowledge on WBL.

By offering a global scientific landscape of WBL research published so far, the authors aimed to contribute to future academic debates and studies in this field of knowledge.

The paper aims to explore factors that impinge on the “insider‐researcher” (IR) when undertaking a work‐based learning project, which will result in the creation of a context analysis framework.

A qualitative, interpretative approach with the IR as central to the research process, together with data from students work‐based projects, research literature and texts, and an academic advisers' focus group.

Themes of benefits and constraints identified the organisation, the clients and co‐workers and the IR benefiting from work‐based projects. The positionality and personal attributes of the IR may be a constraint. Of major consideration are ethical issues arising from the project process. Academics' concerns include student supervision, the impact on the IR, and factors affecting change and project processes.

A small study constrained by the researcher being central to the data and therefore introducing potential bias to the interpretation.

The creation of a context analysis framework as a tool to assist the work‐based student, the academic and the workplace in preparing to implement a work‐based project.

No similar analysis tool has been published. This can contribute significantly to the work‐based curriculum. The issues that concern researchers, academic practitioners and work‐based students during a work‐based project have not been previously investigated. A good practice guide for projects can result from this.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of work-based research projects at postgraduate level. The focus of this paper is to measure the impact of masters- and doctoral-level work-based projects which was the specific contribution of one group of researchers to the Nixon et al.’s (2008) study.

This paper is based on data generated as part of a wider study that examines the impact of work-based learning projects across undergraduate through to doctoral level from the perspective of employers and from the employees perspective. The research study is based on a sample of alumni who had graduated from work-based masters and professional doctorate programmes and their corresponding employers in a UK higher education institution.

At masters and doctorate level the work-based project can often make an impact on the work context and also have a developmental effect on the employee who becomes a practitioner-researcher to undertake the project.

This paper finds that work-based projects are often an investment that companies make that have the propensity to yield tangible business success as well as providing an incentive for key staff to remain in the company and achieve university recognition.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of reflection as a tool of enquiry within the context of higher education work-based learning. The aim of the study is to investigate how reflection on professional practice brings about a review of the values underpinning that practice.

The data were collected from a group of undergraduate students undertaking their studies by work-based learning in the area of management in a Scottish University. An open-ended questionnaire was designed to learn about the participants’ views on their perceived freedom to reflect on their workplace practice in the university, their ability to challenge the organizational values and established practices in the workplace, and on their relationship with the workplace mentor.

Students on work-based learning programmes are subjected to demands from at least three directions: first, their own expectations, in terms of both what they want to achieve by way of their own development, second, the needs of their organization; and third, expectations of the university in ensuring that the work produced meets the standard for an academic award. These interests can sometimes coincide, but they can also conflict, and such a conflict can reveal tensions that run deeper into the culture of the organization.

This study is based on a relatively small sample of learners in one university, hence the findings are of preliminary nature. Despite the small sample size, the conclusions are indicative of a potential problem in the design of work-based learning, and a larger cross-institutional study would allow the validity of these results to be verified.

The findings emerging from this study have implications for the facilitators of work-based learning in higher education. Although university work-based learning programmes differ significantly from corporate learning and development efforts, this paper suggests that work-based learning providers should co-operate more closely with the learners’ employing organizations towards creating an environment for learning at work. More co-operation between the university and the employer might be more beneficial for all stakeholders.

The literature on work-based learning focuses in the main on the use of reflection as a tool of enquiry into workplace practice. Drawing on the study of contemporary work organizations, this paper explores the tensions arising from reflection on the learners’ practice, and possible conflict of values that reflection exposes.

This paper sets out to examine whether the process of accrediting prior experiential learning (APEL) as used in UK universities is the most appropriate approach for providing academic recognition for work‐based projects and learning.

Work‐based projects that had already been assessed in the context of a professional qualification were re‐examined to identify how they might be used towards a master's degree and what if any additional work the candidates would need to complete.

The study finds that in most cases it appeared that the candidates would be able in principle to gain a full master's degree based on their existing work and associated reflection and writing‐up, without the need to carry out additional investigation or projects.

The findings are based on a small sample of individuals from a specific field (the conservation of cultural heritage), and while the findings are clear and appear to have wider applicability they can only be regarded as pointers for practical trialling and further investigation.

The findings suggest that the current approach to APEL used in UK universities needs to be expanded so that awards can be made substantially on the basis of already‐completed workplace projects. A trial of this approach is proposed using candidates from the cultural heritage sector.

The paper proposes a basis for changes to credit practice that will provide better scope for individuals to use and build on workplace activities in gaining academic awards.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the value and learning potential of work‐based projects to both worker‐researchers and their organisations.

Within the School of Health, Community and Education Studies at Northumbria University, work‐based learning (WBL) programmes are becoming increasingly important as a vehicle to enable individuals to gain academic credit and qualifications through developing their personal and professional repertoire of skills and knowledge, and also as a mechanism to improve organisational practice/change. To this end the School has used work‐based projects (WBPs) to work innovatively in partnership with employers. Three short case studies are used to explore how WBPs have been used effectively to meet the particular needs of both the workplace and the learner and to discuss the challenges that these initiatives pose in higher education (HE).

The paper finds that a number of identified issues currently challenging the authors' approaches to WBL have a wider resonance across the WBL community: issues concerning individuals undertaking work‐based‐learning who are unfamiliar with academic learning and how they can be supported to use the skills of enquiry as a tool to implement change in practice; the complexities of using WBL approaches within multi‐ professional groups at differing stages in the continuum from novice to expert and who present individual diverse entry behaviour and learning needs; and the challenges facing the WBL academic working, to recognise and assess the diverse learning acquired throughout the WBL journey so that it can be formally recognised within an HE setting.

The interrelation between action learning, action research and WBPs is introduced and discussed and the impact of the WBL process on the learner, the HE academic and the organisation scrutinised.