ABSTRACT
The research on which this book is based has aimed to examine learning within the socioeconomic context of the workplace. The conflict embodied in the wage relationship and wider systems for the management and regulation of employment frame our exploration of workplace learning. The improvement of workplace learning requires a critical examination of what is currently provided and the structures and regulatory framework within which it takes place. It also requires an understanding of how workers learn, as individuals and collectively. Our evidence, from employers and employees in many, varied workplaces in the private and public sector, has led us toward integrated and culturally embedded approaches to the improvement of workplace learning. In this chapter, we begin this process by considering the potential and limits of workplace learning, and the contemporary theories that can shed light on the practices of learning in, for and through the workplace.
