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When learning in the workplace is conceptualised as a social process, different social or cultural features of workplaces may enable or constrain students’ learning. The purpose of this paper is to understand the views of students, workplace supervisors and university academics concerning sociocultural features that influenced work-integrated learning (WIL) experiences.

An interpretive case-study methodology, incorporating questionnaires and semi-structured interviews was used to determine the views of stakeholders involved in WIL experiences in a sport undergraduate degree.

Students’ learning was enhanced when they participated in authentic activities, worked alongside colleagues and could assume increasing responsibility for roles they were given. Social experiences, interactions and activities provided them with opportunities to access individual, shared and tacit knowledge, to learn about language, processes and protocols for interacting and communicating with others, and to become aware of the culture of the workplace. When students successfully acquired this knowledge they were able to “take-on” the accepted characteristics and practices of the workplace community – an outcome that further enhanced their learning.

Students need to understand the social and cultural dimensions of how the work community practices before they begin WIL experiences. Practical ways of addressing this are suggested.

This paper conceptualises WIL as learning through the “practice of work communities” whereby through the activities of the community students can access knowledge in a way that may differ from what they are familiar with from their experiences within the university environment.

This paper aims to illustrate how innovative trade union strategies are emerging around the learning agenda and how these are being used to extend union strategies within the workplace and the community. However, it also shows how such strategies can be confronted with difficulties particularly when they are located in fixed spaces leaving them unable to develop or become sustainable once these spaces are challenged or closed due to inconsistent state and employer support.

An in depth case study approach was adopted for the research, using predominantly semi‐structured interviews with a wide range of individuals over an 18 month period.

The paper suggests that although unions are increasingly pushing forward their learning agenda and developing workplace and community learning centres, which undoubtedly generate benefits for all stakeholders, their learning strategies are often fixed into specific, closed locations and spaces, finding it difficult to develop once these spaces are challenged or closed due to restructuring and organisational change.

The paper does not suggest that this case is representative of all learning initiatives but it does seem that learning as a part of the inclusion and union renewal agenda is not clearly co‐ordinated in terms of their social, spatial and employment position.

This paper represents new empirical research presented at a time when learning initiatives as well as community initiatives are high on government's agenda particularly as they are encouraging “the third sector” to play an increasing role in providing public services. Similarly, the paper addresses issues of ethnicity, migration and learning, again a topic high on government agendas.

This chapter argues for the development of a model of tutor/student interaction, applying experiential theory and using a learning community framework to improve the student learning experience and to enhance the quality of course curriculum and content. A further value is the opportunity for students, to ‘find’ potential solutions to workplace problems and, as public sector managers, to challenge and change workplace practices and attitudes.

This chapter explores the practice of using course participants’ own experiences to inform course content and increase the currency and value of teaching and initiates development of what could eventually become a real co-production process.

The chapter applies an experiential approach to education and learning, contending that this could lead to a potential co-production process. It argues that this combined approach is a useful model by which to examine current workplace issues using the professional experiences of course participants.

The chapter advances the argument put forward in ‘Another Look at Research’ (Oldfield, 2016) by placing experiential learning within the context of a co-production approach to the delivery of education and learning and delineating a distinctive pedagogical approach to mid-career education.

This study aims to use science mapping to explore the knowledge base on workplace learning.

The analyses were based on the 100 most-cited articles out of the 7,469 results that were generated by the search on SCOPUS database. Bibliometric analyses such as keyword occurrence, co-authorship network and bibliometric coupling network were conducted using VOSviewer.

The results indicated that scholarly work in the area of workplace learning is on the rise while emphasising the need for contributions from Eastern and Asian perspectives. It was also found that scholarly work on workplace learning can be classified into two major schools of thought, namely, one that revolves around learning communities and other around communities of practice. Finally, analysis of the top-journals revealed that many of them have a close association with the field of education.

This analysis is based on a single database. Nonetheless, scholars looking forward to research and publish on the topic may consider the key concepts and journals identified in this review.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other study on bibliometric analysis of the topic has been conducted. This study contributes to the knowledge base on workplace learning by science mapping the existing knowledge.

Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study of a newcomer to the practice of policing to explore conceptualisations of learning through practice. It aims to position learning as the intersections of trajectories of being and becoming within a community of practice. The paper seeks to argue that learners need to be understood with respect to their personal histories and how these interact with the social and cultural dimensions of the workplace.

This paper is a case study of a new police officer with data collected through a series of interviews and observations over a two‐year period.

The case study presented demonstrates the relationship between prior experience, personal histories, participation and a sense of belonging in shaping the learning of early‐career police officers. It suggests that in considering newcomers to the workplace it is important to view the process of learning as being influence by these interconnected factors.

This study concludes that the position of the individual in the social learning of a community of practice is an important aspect that needs further exploration. Although the significance of learner identity with communities of practice is acknowledged by Lave and Wenger it remains underdeveloped, and continues to present as an area for further research.

Trajectories of learning for newcomers to the workplace are affected by their previous social and cultural experiences and expertise, the association that they bring from these to the new community and participation in practices of the community. There exists, therefore, a role for managers in shaping the organisation to be supportive of these informal learning experience and, thus, the selection and training of managers should be aligned to these goals.

This paper extends current understandings of learning and development in the policing context as well as contributing to the broader discussion of informal learning in the workplace and understanding of experts and novices within communities of practice.

This article aims to show how in times of austerity when formal HRD activity is curtailed and yet the need for learning is greatest, non‐formal learning methods such as workplace involvement and participation initiated by line managers can compensate by enabling the required learning and change.

A qualitative cross‐sectional design using a photo‐elicitation interview method was used with middle‐manager respondents within two case‐study organisations. These organisations, UK local authorities, were selected on the basis of the severity of the austerity measures being imposed and the significance of the learning needed/changes required. Middle managers were the focus, being a managerial cadre with dual responsibilities for both implementing and initiating change.

Managers' narratives of their managerial practices are analysed and show strong intentions to facilitate the learning of individuals through, for instance, enabling learning from experience and also to promote social learning within communities of practice. Narratives of community learning suggest that the managers were also supporting the creation of new forms of practice within their teams.

The research involved volunteer respondents who were MBA educated and who may, therefore, have been atypical. Nonetheless, implications for HRD policy and practice are proposed, including the need for more recognition of the role of line managers in enabling both individual and organisational learning and the need for developing managers as workplace educators.

This paper is an in‐depth qualitative study of workplace activities including participation and involvement practices using the lens of situated learning theory to highlight the importance of line managers as facilitators of non‐formal learning in times of austerity. Empirical conclusions are drawn upon in refining situated learning theory.

The purpose of this study is to understand the scope and nature of information sharing as a form of workplace learning among gig workers.

Data were collected from public social media communities of gig workers in Thailand. In total, 338 posts and 3,022 comments on the posts were analyzed (data corpus N = 3,360). Thailand was selected for the context of this study given its high level of social media penetration, a high percentage of digital service consumption of internet users and the prevalence of app-based gig workers. This study used thematic analysis using inductive and semantic coding to generate themes.

Findings showed two overarching themes of information sharing, which included on-the-job experience and inquiries. One surprising finding was the extent to which gig workers used social media to help others even when it potentially undermined their success.

This study adds evidence to the role of information sharing in workplace learning and illustrates how gig workers who do not have access to traditional training and learning opportunities use social media communities to fill this need.

Given the surge of digitalization and internet infrastructure leading to the rise of gig work worldwide, this study provides a closer look at how gig workers are using social media communities to facilitate workplace learning and support one another amid otherwise difficult and insecure working conditions. It also discusses the role that culture plays in facilitating a cooperative rather than a competitive environment among drivers.

This chapter uses the idea of informed learning, an interpretation of information literacy that focuses on people’s information experiences rather than their skills or attributes, to analyse the character of using information to learn in diverse communities and settings, including digital, faith, indigenous and ethnic communities. While researchers of information behaviour or information seeking and use have investigated people’s information worlds in diverse contexts, this work is still at its earliest stages in the information literacy domain. To date, information literacy research has largely occurred in what might be considered mainstream educational and workplace contexts, with some emerging work in community settings. These have been mostly in academic libraries, schools and government workplaces. What does information literacy look like beyond these environments? How might we understand the experience of effective information use in a range of community settings, from the perspective of empirical research and other sources? The chapter concludes by commenting on the significance of diversifying the range of information experience contexts, for information literacy research and professional practice.