ABSTRACT
Professional action is usually marked by the need to make informed decisions based on analyses of tasks or problems. Professionals are therefore not usually engaged in rigid and predictable work practices where routine dominates. To reflect that view of professional action we see professional learning as a process of increasingly informed sense-making and action. In this chapter we explain what we mean by learning and introduce ideas that are developed throughout the book. These include collaboration, boundary work, distributed expertise and responsible agency. We conclude by pointing to the need to pay attention to the organisational conditions necessary for professional learning.
