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The purpose of this editorial is to outline the historical and conceptual context in which the research into workplace learning as a research field is emerging.

The paper in an essayistic knowledge sociology perspective parallels developments in the nature of work and the growing interest in human resources, and hence learning. It confronts the general stereotypes of work with the actual multiplicity of different work domains.

The actual sample of articles is characterized briefly, drawing attention to the epistemological value of concrete studies of different learning experiences in different types of work.

The perspective of the editorial is mainly to spur the reflection of researchers in the field to the interrelation between theoretical issues and practical engagement in learning enterprises.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a comparison of how human expertise is perceived by human resource development (HRD) scholars across several Western European countries and in the USA.

A qualitative, exploratory approach using electronic mail was used for this study. In total, 36 leading HRD scholars from 11 different countries were interviewed.

There is a propensity of several countries to converge towards common themes. Based on this fact, a European‐US definition of expertise is offered: expertise is the combination of knowledge, experience, and skills held by a person in a specific domain.

One major limitation is the selection of “experts” to describe “expertise”. Second, although all but one European interviewee spoke fluent English, the questions were asked in English. Third, virtual ethnography coupled with traditional interviewing is known to be best. Fourth, the research is deeply embedded in one field. Finally, the rather small sample size underrepresented some countries.

The findings provide HRD practitioners with a better understanding of training and development practices and give additional ground for employee development. They shed light on cultural differences and on cross‐national communication. As organizations increasingly expand worldwide and outsource, understanding expertise across nations can provide insights into selection and hiring procedures and help with cross‐cultural training for expatriates. Expertise can also be used as a performance measure to develop employees for optimal performance.

The paper explores a training and development construct internationally

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of talent development, define its scope and identify the issues involved in formulating talent development strategies in organisations.

The paper reviews the relatively scant and fragmented literature on talent development processes.

The literature review revealed that talent development is usually discussed as part of a wider talent management process. The literature highlights issues concerning who is the talent to be developed, what competencies should be developed, who drives development, what is the appropriate pace of development and what is the architecture to support the development.

The paper is solely theoretical in nature; however, it does identify gaps for further research.

The paper raises a number of important questions that should be considered by organisations when they engage in talent development.

The paper contributes to a perceived gap in the literature and highlights the issues that come within the terrain of talent development.

This paper aims to explore what opportunities for learning practitioners in rheumatology perceive of in their daily practice, using a typology of workplace learning to categorize these opportunities.

Thirty-six practitioners from different professions in rheumatology were interviewed. Data were analyzed using conventional qualitative content analysis with a directed approach, and were categorized according to a typology of formal and informal learning.

The typology was adjusted to fit the categories resulting from the analysis. Further analysis showed that work processes with learning as a by-product in general, and relationships with other people in the workplace in particular, were perceived as important for learning in the workplace. The use of many recognized learning opportunities was lower. Barriers for learning were a perceived low leadership awareness of learning opportunities and factors relating to workload and the organization of work.

The generalizability of results from all qualitative inquiries is limited by nature, and the issue of transferability to other contexts is for the reader to decide. Further studies will need to confirm the results of the study, as well as the proposed enhancement of the typology with which the results were categorized.

The study highlights the importance of relationships in the workplace for informal learning in rheumatology practice. In the clinical context, locally adapted strategies at organizational and individual levels are needed to maximize opportunities for both professional and interprofessional informal learning, taking the importance of personal relationships into account. The findings also suggest a need for increased continuing professional education in the specialty.

The workplace learning typology that was used in the study showed good applicability to empirical health-care study data, but may need further development. The study confirmed that informal workplace learning is an important part of learning in rheumatology. Further studies are needed to clarify how informal and formal learning in the rheumatology clinic may be supported in workplaces with different characteristics.

This paper, based on a publication entitled Facing up to the Learning Organisation Challenge, published in April 2003, provides an overview of the main questions emerging from recent European research projects related to the topic of the learning organisation. The rationale for focusing on this topic is the belief that the European Union goals related to “lifelong learning” and the creation of a “knowledge‐based society” can only be attained if the organisations in which people work are also organisations in which they learn. Work organisations must become, at the same time, learning organisations. This paper has four main messages. The first is that, in order to build learning organisations, one has to ensure that: there is coherence between the “tangible” (formal/objective) and the “intangible” (informal/subjective) dimensions of an organisation; and that the organisation's learning goals are reconciled with individuals’ learning needs. The complexity involved in ensuring the right balance between these different dimensions, means that in the final analysis one cannot realistically expect more than incomplete or imperfect learning organisations. However, this does not in any way negate the validity of the quest to reconcile these competing but “real” interests. The second message is that challenging or developmental work is a prerequisite for implementing a learning organisation. One of the keys to promoting learning organisations is to organise work in such a way that it promotes human development. The third message is that the provision of support and guidance is essential to ensure that developmental work does in fact provide opportunities for developmental learning. The fourth message is that to address organisational learning there is a need for boundary‐crossing and interdisciplinary partnerships between the vocational education and training and human resource development communities.