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This paper summarises some of the analysis and findings of a project commissioned to investigate the meanings and uses of the terms formal, informal and non‐formal learning. Many texts use these terms without any clear definition, or employ conflicting definitions and boundaries. The paper therefore proposes an alternative way of analysing learning situations in terms of attributes of formality and informality. Applying this analysis to a range of learning contexts, one of which is described, suggests that there are significant elements of formal learning in informal situations, and elements of informality in formal situations; the two are inextricably inter‐related. The nature of this inter‐relationship, the ways it is written about and its impact on learners and others, are closely related to the organisational, social, cultural, economic, historical and political contexts in which the learning takes place. The paper briefly indicates some of the implications of our analysis for theorising learning, and for policy and practice.

Draws from a four‐year longitudinal study of young people’s experiences of learning in further education. The project, funded by the Further Education Development Agency, focused upon relationships between the personal careers of young people and the structured opportunities for education and training available to them. A single case study is used in order to illustrate the kinds of insight which the study afforded. The research revealed a stark contrast between the complexity and unpredictability of the young people’s learning careers, and the more structured approaches in current policy and practice.

Although career decision making by young people is of central importance in current training policy in Britain, there has been little recent research into how career decisions are made. Summarizes some of the findings from one such study, in the context of one of the training credits pilot schemes. Based on these findings, describes a complex process of pragmatically rational decision making by young people. This is at odds with the technically rational assumptions that underpin much current education and training policy. Shows assumptions that good quality guidance and better information can help most young people to make “correct” career decisions when they leave school to be fallacious. Suggests that policies need to recognize that changes of mind and of career direction are normal for many young people. We need to work out ways of dealing with this reality, rather than trying to avoid it.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/00400919510148189. When citing the article, please cite: Phil Hodkinson, (1995), “How young people make career decisions”, Education + Training, Vol. 37 Iss: 8, pp. 3 - 8.

This paper seeks to problematize common assumptions in the existing workplace learning literature, to the effect that college‐based and workplace learning are inherently different.

The paper is based on empirical data from four different research projects, two focusing on the workplace and two on college. The approach is one of arguing that the differences between college‐based and workplace learning are exaggerated by the theoretical and conceptual stances that are often adopted.

From a rather different theoretical approach, many significant similarities between learning in the two types of location are revealed. The paper advances a way to reconceptualize the relationship between the two, based on this approach. There are two parts to this: changing one's view of the learner progression from one location to another, and studying the nature of the relationship between sites of workplace and educational learning, within their wider field(s).

Differentiating these learning processes has theoretical implications and a practical significance for organizations wanting to focus on competence and learning issues.

Highlights that the tasks of managing learning progression require detailed attention to the specifics of particular situations, which are often more important than generalized principles.

The purpose of this paper is to explore learning for and through retirement from the workplace.

First, “retirement” is considered in the light of the existing literature, demonstrating a complex concept. The paper describes the research project from which a theme of retirement as a learning process has emerged. Case studies illustrate individuals' retirement transformations within the communities and cultures where they live and learn. “Learning lives” is a qualitative project in which the life histories and ongoing lives of over 100 UK adults were researched in interviews 2004‐2008. The sample included many people approaching retirement or retired.

Analysis showed retirement as being an ongoing process and learning as being integral to those transitions through which older people go before, during and after leaving paid work. It was found that learning is often informal and tacit, in anticipation, preparation and reaction to change. Learning interrelates with people's positions in society, time and place as they “become” retired.

Time and funding limited analysis of the large bank of data, which are deserving of further work. There are implications for workplaces and for the wider society in the need to recognise and understand the transition process through which retirees must learn their way. Formal course provision can be beneficial but is only part of, or possibly a trigger for, the life learning that occurs.

There is limited work available looking at learning and retirement. What there is tends to focus on formal courses. The study adds to those, looking at learning more broadly and as an integral and reciprocal part of the process.

THE graphical methods of one‐dimensional gas dynamics are reviewed and developed to obtain a complete representation of adiabatic flow of perfect gases in ducts of constant cross‐section. The dimensionless charts, from which the variation of the state of the gas along the duct axis can be determined, are analysed and the methods of their construction given. The form of the charts depends only on the value of the ratio of specific heats.

The purpose of this article is to present the results of a study of an industrial company's top management team (TMT) that fought to survive an economic crisis. Specifically, the article seeks to focus on describing the TMT's composition, group processes, and work during a period of high external pressure; analysing the TMT's work in terms of an organisational learning process; and discussing factors that may have enabled the TMT to make appropriate strategic decisions during the crisis.

The empirical foundation of this article is a longitudinal case study of a Swedish industrial company during the economic recession of the late 2000s. Data were collected through observations of meetings involving the TMT from 2009 to 2011 and through semi‐structured interviews with TMT managers.

Two empirical themes – “accelerating” and “braking” – illustrate actions taken by the TMT during the crisis. Accelerating involves activities aimed at accelerating the company out of the downturn, whereas braking involves activities aimed at reducing costs. The findings suggest that the TMT exhibited the ability to handle processes of exploration and exploitation during the crisis and that learning occurred at the individual, group, and organisational levels.

A practical implication of this study is the importance for TMTs to work simultaneously with processes of exploration and exploitation when fighting to survive an economic crisis and to designate time for learning processes in daily work.

The study contributes to the field by empirically showing the processes of organisational learning in practice and by highlighting the relevance of organisational learning research to understanding the performance and work of top management teams in organisations.