Unlike their counterparts on school-based Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes, 'newly qualified' teachers in further education in England do not have the entitlement to support conferred by Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) status. Yet there is an expectation that ITE providers support former trainees' progress in employment, with little…

This article details the findings of a research project that aimed to interpret and understand the experiences of further education lecturers as they undertook initial teacher education. Using rigorous methods grounded in hermeneutic phenomenology, the research situated in colleges in Scotland and Wales structured as two significant case studies…

This research investigates learners' responses to the use of literature as a means of literacy learning in level 2 Functional Skills in English. Data were gathered by way of observation, questionnaire and informal dialogue with learners. Teaching and learning was underpinned by the philosophy of critical pedagogy and was therefore learner-centric.…

The TRAVORS projects, supported by the European Union's Lifelong Learning Programme, ran between 2008 and 2012. Their object was to develop training programmes for disability employment practitioners across nine countries based on proven approaches both to vocational rehabilitation and to skills training. The second of the two projects aimed to…

This paper contains an account of a small scale investigation into the usefulness of the concepts of the learning organisation and organisational learning when seeking to describe the processes of knowledge creation and deployment within the small, but growing, enterprise (SME). A review of the literature reveals a concern that the relationship…

This article explores the emerging phenomenon of workplace learning brokerage and the extent to which learning brokers can facilitate workplace learning in firms that have little history of employee development. Drawing on research carried out over a 6-year period, the article puts forward a typology of practice and identifies four distinct forms…

This article follows Engestrom (2001) in suggesting a new approach to learning in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based on the social and cultural realities of the workplace. The article briefly reviews the theoretical status and practical standing of work on lifelong learning in SMEs, and suggests that Engestrom's work may help us to…

Whilst the economic agenda continues to dominate adult learning policy, evidence from national surveys indicates that vocational and other learning opportunities continue to be unevenly distributed according to social class. This article argues that the concept of social capital can usefully be employed to increase participation for adults who do…