In 1999, an education program was started, administered by the Faculty of Nursing, Oslo University College, and the municipality of Oslo. The specific location of this education program was moved from the site of the traditional college to a city location. The project was started as a result of a wish for a more comprehensive and effective learning process for student nurses as well as a more consistent contact with practice and a cooperative agreement with the Municipality of Oslo. Participation in this education program presumed that the students would participate in and contribute to a union of education and profession. It was also anticipated that the students would be better equipped to meet the everyday life awaiting them after completion of their education. This education project is the arena of my research project. By participating in borough-based education, it is presumed that the students will take part in and contribute to a culture of education and a culture of work. My research problem is rooted in the above: how do students in borough-based education construct knowledge and identity? I wish to emphasize how these students, though the practice of discourse, create the construction of knowledge and identity in that social practice constituted by the education project, and how this discursive practice may be understood and described. In order to be able to describe and understand this from a social and cultural learning perspective, I have focused on the following research questions: · Which tools do the students employ in their construction process? · What is the significance of the community of practice in the students' construction of knowledge and identity? · What knowledge and identity do the students in the education program construct? I have collected data through observation, focused interview and students selves assessment, from three different year/classes and groups. I will be using Fairclough's (1992) three-dimensional interpretation of discourse, as well as an activity theory approach to the concept of social practice. Discourse analysis is used as a method to study the research questions, while activity theory is used more as a backdrop for viewing the education project (education, borough and the players involved) and its history in an activity theory perspective. This paper will deal with some of the very first results from this research project.