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Purpose – This chapter highlights two studies, one in Canada and one in the United Kingdom. The Canadian study focused on the examination of student experiences with respect to specific ‘difficult’ content in the classroom. The purpose of the study was to identify ways that were effective and engaging for students to learn. The UK study examined issues of access, retention and drop-out of non-traditional students in higher education. The study examined the learning experiences of women who returned to learning after being out of the education system for some time.

Methodology – The Canadian study used surveys and interviews. Participants were recruited on the basis of their enrolment in specific classes. The UK study used interview samples drawn from student data in three universities. In each university, a cohort was followed and interviewed three times while in another cohort students were interviewed in their first year of study and different cohort in their final year of study.

Approach – Both studies use a feminist, narrative approach that relies on reflexive engagement in the research process.

Findings and implications – The studies highlight that the classroom is a place where dialogue and engagement occur; where the identities of the participants and their learning are in a dynamic process; and where the learners challenge attitudes and ideologies such as capitalism and forms of marginalisation. The studies revealed that learning has a social value and entreats women to reconsider their lives, work and citizenship.

The chapters in this book focus on student experiences in higher education and how those experiences shape their identity and influence their academic success. This volume focuses on the key factors in identity development and how student experiences in formal, nonformal, and informal learning activities help shape their identities. This volume discusses the main theories and concepts involved in identity formation and how educators can increase their understanding and importance of identity in education. This volume argues that all forms of learning can create a more engaging and democratically oriented student experience. This volume also argues that inclusive leadership is an important factor in cultivating a rich and dynamic learning environment and bringing about greater equity and inclusion in teaching and learning.

The traditional approach to building a corporate identity relies on a managerial advertising view and is conducted mainly by external consultancy companies. The aim of this study is to introduce a different approach to building a corporate identity that is based on an effective learning mechanism focused on internal stakeholders.

In‐depth interviews with senior bank management were conducted to determine the way in which a new corporate identity was designed and implemented. In addition, written documentation relating to the process of managing the identity was examined as a case study of a subsidiary of an Israeli bank.

The case demonstrates that designing an effective learning mechanism based on internal stakeholders' participation is crucial for the assimilation of a new corporate identity. It has also meaningful impact on increasing profitability and improving satisfaction both among workers and clients.

On the basis of this case study, a practical framework of designing and implementing a corporate identity is presented, based on learning objectives and a learning mechanism. This conceptual framework can serve managers interested in adopting a systemic and holistic approach to building a sustainable corporate identity as well as researchers who may use the framework for the study of companies who are in the process of changing their identity.

The study provides an important insight to the process of designing of corporate identity in the banking industry and better understanding of learning mechanisms that foster its assimilation.

The purpose of this paper is to develop understanding of the theory of identity-work and to then deploy this understanding in examining managers’ identity-work. These understandings provide a basis for appreciating managers’ receptivity to learning and, in turn, for considering the likely efficacy of management development.

A qualitative, photo-elicitation interview research study is detailed in which managers’ accounts of being a manager were generated.

The accounts of a sample of managers are analysed through the lens of identity-work using a range of narrative analysis techniques. The findings of the study reveal the use of six distinct types of identity-work that have potential for explicating managers’ receptivity for learning.

The strengths of the qualitative research approach are expounded but certain limitations are acknowledged and therefore opportunities for extending the research trajectory are proposed. Specific implications for training and development practice are developed.

The study contributes to the literature of workplace learning and HRD by showing the potential of understanding identity for appreciating managers’ receptivity to learning and, thereby, the efficacy of management development activity.

In the male-dominant creative industries, do men and women have access to the same resources for career learning and development? The purpose of this paper is to examine women’s perspectives of their career trajectories in advertising creative departments.

Situated learning theory views learning as produced through interaction with and increasing participation in a community of practice. Interviews were conducted with 19 female creatives to examine two research questions: first, how do women develop identities as creative practitioners within the male dominated advertising creative department? and second, how are women’s learning trajectories influenced by their gender?

Gendered expectations affected the type of work women were supposed to produce, their ability to sell work, and the types of assignments they received. Women lacked legitimacy and experienced difficulties developing an identity as a master practitioner. They instead emphasized parts of their identity unrelated to the profession.

Women were unable to develop identities as full members of the community of practice. The identity formed in conjunction with work was that of a person with lesser talents, fewer opportunities, and less valued contributions, causing them to exit the field or seek positive identity from places other than work.

This study was the first study that the authors are aware of to examine empirically the relationship between situated learning theory and gender. It provided evidence from women’s perspectives that gender restricted access to material for forming a positive work-identity, which impeded learning as women realized and accepted they were on a different trajectory than similarly-situated males.

The aim of this study is to investigate how workers' work‐related identity is related to various forms of workplace learning. The study also aims to show how changes in the organization affect both learning and the work‐related identity construction of employees.

In‐depth interviews with four design engineers were conducted in 2000 and 2007 in Finland. Narrative analysis was used to construct four stories that were compared at two different points in time to find out what changes and development took place in relation to experiences of learning and work‐related identity.

The findings suggest that learning and work‐related identity are related to one another in many ways. Usually this relationship is individually constituted, but many of its elements are socially shared. Work‐related identity is constructed strategically as one of many identities constituted in the other areas of life.

The findings of this study show that employers should bear in mind the importance of this interrelationship in order to promote employees' commitment and so facilitate their continuous learning and construction of their work‐related identity.

This paper provides useful information on how changes in the organization affect both learning and the work‐related identity construction of employees.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the negotiation of learner and worker identities in a group of high-skilled newcomers who participate in an introductory and mentoring programme.

The paper takes the interdependence of learning, work and identity and a constructivist approach to identity as a point of departure. The design is qualitative with semi-structured interviews as the main source of data.

For the learning potential in introductory programmes to be fulfilled, all parties involved must recognise a need for learning. This is especially important in organisations that are knowledge intensive and that demand highly skilled and competent workers, as negotiations of learner identity might be more demanding for this group of employees.

The current paper is situated in a specific organisational and national context, and only pays attention to some of the negotiations between expert and learner identities that are relevant if induction programmes and initiatives should be experienced as positive. Connections between identity work, learning and job performance for this group of workers should consequently be empirically investigated by a variety of methods and within several organisational and national contexts.

The paper shows that it is vital for organisers and leaders to be sensitive to the significance that the identity work has for learning, when they plan, execute and evaluate induction programmes and initiatives for high-skilled and competent workers.

The facilitation of job transitions and induction for high-skilled and experienced workers is underresearched, and the paper shows how identity and learning is closely connected for this group of employees.

The purpose of this paper is to review social identity theory and its implications for learning in organizations.

This article is a conceptual paper based on a multidisciplinary review of the literature on social identity theory. This article explains the theoretical concepts, constructs, and findings of an identity‐based view of learning in organizations. The article describes the theoretical foundations of social identity theory and its elaboration as self‐categorization theory, along with some of the limitations of the theory. Important implications for workplace learning are presented.

Although multiple factors influence how people work, social identity theory portends to be a unifying theory of organizational behavior because what and how people think as members of social groups influences subsequent behavior and attitudes in social systems. This influence has important implications for workplace learning..

The social identities in organizations serve as important drivers of performance. How people think as members of groups affects the outcomes of learning interventions. Therefore, social identity is a key input to or driver of learning and performance in organizations.

Training and development have focused primarily on the individual and occasionally the organizational levels with little attention to the identity‐based dynamics of group behavior in organizational settings. This paper offers insights from social identity theory for training and development.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of a mentored model of gradual release to build social capital and support teachers as they adopt new identities as leaders of professional learning.

Data for the paper were collected as part of a case study which explored the Provincial Facilitator Community (PFC) in Saskatchewan, Canada as one approach to creating a collaborative culture of teacher-led learning and leadership.

The findings suggest that becoming a leader of professional learning is a complex process of gaining confidence, building capacity and transitioning into a new professional identity. In the PFC, this process was markedly supported through a structured and intentional system of modeling and peer-mentorship that promoted the development of social capital across the group.

The paper provides new insights around the use of a mentored model of gradual release to create opportunities to develop social capital that, in turn, helped prepare and sustain teachers in adopting new roles as leaders of professional learning.

The study explores Degree Apprenticeship Identity (DAI) conceptualisation to enrich understanding to enhance work-integrated learning (WIL). Lived experiences of degree apprentices (DAs) are examined, and a model of DAI developed to support teaching and learning interventions on this relatively new and significant programme.

It draws pragmatically upon qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship from diverse backgrounds in a higher education institutes (HEI). Data were explored abductively, using thematic analysis to investigate common patterns that influence identity; investigating personal experiences, socio-economic and cultural background, educational context and social interactions.

Influential themes surfaced, including pride in work, supporting others, sharing experiences and belonging, facilitating DAI model formation. The model illustrates that DAI is composed of existing personal, necessary professional and power of learning transformation through social identity by interventions that encourage peer engagement, group reflection and group-actualisation.

As this is a small-scale exploratory study, it is not intended to be representative of wider populations, which results in generalisability of findings. Data were collected from a well-established closed cohort programme led by the researcher, previously programme director. Interviews generated a broad range of anecdotal evidence, surfacing valuable insights relating to DAI formation.

To enhance WIL, tutors can foster social interventions that encourage peer dialogue, heighten DAs sense of self as capable learners and increase confidence growth.

The research provides a DAI Model, a fresh approach to understanding ways to enhance WIL for DAs through a stronger focus on group identity through social interventions. This preliminary model presents an opportunity for further research; other apprenticeships, larger and/or open cohorts.