Policy makers in Europe and internationally are increasingly preoccupied with finding ways to foster lifelong learning. Recent work has drawn attention to the pedagogical benefits that apprenticeship can afford to combine opportunities for learning in the workplace and specialist educational institutions. Other work has recognised that linking participation in part-time courses in higher at the same time as working also has pedagogical strengths. This paper presents two main arguments. First, the situated learning perspective developed by Lave and Wenger (1991) offers a theoretical starting point for supporting the potential of the workplace as a site for learning. However, it does not offer a conceptualisation of how contrasting forms of participation such as in the workplace and specialist educational institutions can connect to provide people with the opportunity to engage in multiple and contrasting communities of practice. Secondly, policy makers, who are looking for ways of tackling social inclusion through the strategies of widening participation and promoting lifelong learning, have often been slow to recognise the pedagogical strengths of the combined approach particularly in higher education. Further more there has been little attention on its appeal to many individuals who, for various reasons relating to social and economic change, are reluctant to participate in full-time courses. It follows from the arguments presented that more resources and effort should be invested in increasing the opportunities available to people across the socio-economic spectrum to participate in both education and employment.The paper is organised in sections. Section one refers two types of provision (apprenticeship and part-time higher education) which offer participants the chance to combine work with formal study and qualifying opportunities. In section two, the paper outlines some of the social and economic conditions under which more individuals are pursuing 'earn and learn' options and discusses how aspects of broader social change can help explain recent trends and patterns of take up. Section three elaborates the pedagogical and policy cases for expanding the work and learning route, and as a way of increasing lifelong learning and social inclusion. Section four focuses on some examples of where work and learning are combined and uses pedagogical criteria to assess some of their strengths and weaknesses. The exemplars' potential contribution to widening access and fostering lifelong learning is also assessed. The paper concludes by suggesting that the relationship between work and learning can be strengthened: a) by a clearer awareness of the distinctive pedagogical character of the combined route, and b) by providing more resources to expand an approach which can help policy makers meet their social inclusion and lifelong learning policy goals.