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The aim of this paper is to evaluate the role of learning from participation in a group of work‐based learners.

This study relies on qualitative data obtained from a survey of perspectives of students on two work‐based learning programmes. A group of 16 undergraduate and seven postgraduate students participated in a focus group and a number of one‐to‐one interviews.

It was found that work‐based learners learn effectively from both their community of practice in the workplace and their learning group of work‐based learners within the university. The study suggests that a learning group experience is valued highly by work‐based students and that dialogue with other students in the learning group appears to make a significant contribution to enhancing their knowledge.

The findings have implications for the design of work‐based learning programmes. The approach which integrates learning from the students' workplace community of practice and learning from the learning group at the university appears to be most effective.

The paper discusses the relationship between the nature of work‐based learning and the structure and pedagogy underlying such learning. Whilst the paper recognises that there are benefits to the individualised approach to work‐based learning, it nevertheless argues for more focus on the social aspect of learning, and emphasises the role of interaction with other learners in the learning group.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a new tool that can be used to help in the design and evaluation of work-based elements within programmes or to evaluate whole programmes.

This paper takes a case study approach to describe the development of the mapping tool. The tool is based on a matrix which enables users to map four variables: teacher-centred delivery, employer-centred delivery and students outcomes in terms of knowledge and skills.

The mapping tool provides a useful approach to evaluating the outcomes for work-based learning activities.

The mapping tool provides tutors with a useful, easily used way to visualise the nature of their work-based learning activities.

This paper presents a novel, practical and useful tool that has wide applicability in the field of work-based learning.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which work-based learning could potentially improve education and training pathways in Australia.

The paper reviews education and training provision in Australia through a contextualisation of the Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) with work-based learning pedagogy to determine the extent to which it might contribute to improved outcomes for learners.

People seeking to advance their career aspirations can consider the application of work-based learning to support lifelong learning pathways through the AQF.

There is a need for further longitudinal studies on the outcomes of work-based learning for organisations, individual learners and education and training institutions.

The application of effective WBL approaches has the potential to create a much larger flow of learners from experiential and vocational backgrounds into undergraduate programmes and onto higher education programmes using a consistent and effective pedagogy.

By actively considering the opportunities for learning at work and through work learners, educators and business managers may recognise that there would be more demand for work-based learning.

This paper represents an initial action research study which examines the role WBL can provide for life-long learning.

The purpose of this paper is to examine work-based learning (WBL) pedagogy within higher education (HE) related to the use of the “field of study” concept.

This paper reviews WBL literature to discuss the original context of the concept and relates this to current pedagogic approaches through qualitative interviews and written explanations.

WBL pedagogy continues to use the concepts from field of study WBL but the study also indicates that academic practitioners are developing pedagogy to meet the needs of current workplace and educational policy.

This paper is limited in its scope due to the small number of respondents but there are potential implications about emerging directions for this pedagogic range.

The paper argues that field of study WBL is still relevant to existing practice but further engagement and research surrounding WBL pedagogy is needed to examine this range of HE.

The added value is the evidence of evolving WBL pedagogy that can inform issues of flexibility within HE provision.

To explore the conceptualisation and operationalisation of authentic assessment in work-based learning and research.

The relationship between authentic assessment and work-based learning and research is examined using a postgraduate degree program at a regional university in Australia as a case example to identify unique pedagogical features of work-based learning as they are linked to assessment.

A dynamic is created between formative and summative authentic assessment practices and the cross-current nature of learning in work and research, leading to a range of lifelong learning outcomes. A framework for such a dynamic is presented.

The pedagogy informing work-based learning emphasises developing higher-order thinking through reflective practice, developing competencies and capabilities associated with professional practice and developing academic writing and research skills to enhance professional identity at the postgraduate level for mid- to senior-career professionals. However, the relationship of authentic assessment to work-based learning and research has not been explicated in the literature and its application in post-COVID work environments has yet to be fully examined.

This paper examines how the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated digital developments in apprenticeship and work-based learning in higher education (HE), focusing on practices that have ongoing value.

A literature review was carried out on the theme of HE work-based and work-integrated learning during the pandemic, followed by minimally-structured interviews with UK university staff responsible for apprenticeship and other work-based programmes.

The pandemic has accelerated adoption of online and digital methods to support work-based and apprenticeship learning. There has been progress from emergency measures to more pedagogically consistent ones. A blended approach is becoming common, with the learning and logistical benefits from digital methods ensuring their continuing use. Progress is uneven and there is still a need for improved digital pedagogy and better integration of theoretical and practical learning.

More attention is needed to digital pedagogy and to effective use of online methods to support work-based learning with corresponding implications for staff development. There are institutional implications in terms of ensuring that systems and structures support what is, particularly for work-based learners, likely to be a permanent move towards digital, blended and online learning.

There has been limited research on the impact of the pandemic on work-based learning, with most of the literature focusing on placements and projects. This paper presents findings at a point when universities are considering how technologically-supported methods will be employed on a more permanent basis.

Impactful pedagogies in Higher Education are required to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. This chapter outlines an inclusive, flexible, and work-based learning curriculum design framework to respond to these needs. Two cases from Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) are used to illustrate this framework in a transnational educational context in Sub-Saharan Africa. Case one explores the impact of a Railway Operations Management program in South Africa, where the views of two cohorts of 137 recent graduates were gathered through an online questionnaire. Case two examines the views of Optometry/Orthoptics students who undertook an intensive two-week clinical work experience on the train-based clinic (Phelophepa train) in South Africa; data was gathered through an online questionnaire from 58 participating students since 2014. Both examples highlight transformative personal experiences and impacts of their education beyond just their studies – to a clearer sense of personal and professional pride, to becoming role models for their families and to developing meta-cognitive skills to support lifelong learning. In the Railway Operations Management example, additional benefits were seen to their organization – through improved interpersonal skills, decision-making, and problem-solving and creating knowledge-sharing – whereas in the Optometry/Orthoptics case life-changing impacts to patients were delivered through this work experience.

The purpose of this paper is to identify how key external and internal policies can impact on the internal policies of a University in the UK. It explains how the internal structures can be changed to meet the policy demands and how the need to meet those demands can lead to the development of an innovative pedagogy to broaden engagement with the business community, to offer work‐based learning to employees within small to medium‐sized enterprises.

The objectives of the case study are to review the key external policies and drivers for change and how these led to internal policy and structure changes. The paper reviews past practice in the university around employer engagement, how this is affected by the external changes and identifies opportunities for change offered through the availability of external project funding. The key requirements for the new pedagogical approach are outlined, along with its primary concepts and how an e‐portfolio has been designed to meet the needs of the target group.

The paper shows how imperatives arising from policies and drivers outside the university can be contextualised by that university to develop a cost‐effective, sustainable and scaleable pedagogy to widen access to cohorts of learners that would otherwise not be able to access higher education.

The paper showcases an innovative pedagogic approach to enable access to higher education for work‐based learners in small to medium‐sized enterprises.

Using data drawn from two cohorts of learners studying the Bachelor of Arts (Professional Practice) programme at Middlesex University, the purpose of this paper is to critically analyse the effectiveness of work based learning in improving the skills bases of early career arts professionals in the twenty‐first century and to explore the changing place and role of “traditional” concepts of knowledge and teaching.

This study utilised a collaborative action research approach in order to categorise and theorise the themes that have emerged from the practice of delivering the programme, and to provide data that informed the on‐going curriculum development.

The study identified three emerging themes in terms of the role of knowledge attainment for the early career arts professional undertaking work based learning. First, knowledge attainment processes shift from a push model to a pull model, second the authors noted a change in the inequalities in knowledge attainment facilitated by the use of the web 2.0 platforms and third it is argued that there are recognisable differences in the value and use of experientially gain knowledge in the establishing and in the established practitioner. The study then suggests changes that may occur in terms of curriculum design, delivery and pedagogy to support establishing arts professionals through a work based learning programme.

There is a limited research discourse on the authenticity of the use of work based learning with early career professionals. Further, the study of this emerging cohort for work based learning programmes at Middlesex University points to a wider discourse in terms of positioning work based learning in volunteer environments, third sector and other creative industries contexts where the notion of work is challenged and the connection of learning to practice less firmly set in the established identity of a workplace.

The purpose of this paper is to present and examine the addition of a “professional artefact” to the course requirements for the BA Honours Professional Practice (BAPP) (Arts) programme at Middlesex University.

This paper takes a case study approach using reflection, indicative theories and consideration of student work to evaluate the introduction of the “professional artefact” into the BAPP (Arts) curriculum. Following pragmatist and phenomenological descriptions of the lived experience as embodied (Dewey et al., 1989; Merleau-Ponty, 2002) and using learning models based on experience in the workplace (Boud and Garrick, 1999), the paper's methodology takes the work-based principle of “experience as knowledge” to examine the impact of the professional artefact on students learning.

The professional artefact has proven to be a useful way for the learners on the course to reflect on the purpose of their own study and the ways in which work-based learning can be incorporated into their practice through embodied “ideas”.

The paper suggests that the inclusion of a professional artefact to the curriculum provides a flexible means for bridging academic and workplace learning. The inclusion of the professional artefact could be recommended as a strategy for other work-based learning programmes.

The added value for professional practice is that the professional artefact provides a flexible and creative means of communication for emerging and establishing workplace professionals.