This paper discusses the Open University Foundation degree in health and social care. This foundation degree is a work-based course responding to the evolving needs of the National Health Service. One of the key concepts in the course is that of the "new kind of worker," an "inter- professional" with the knowledge and skills to cross role and professional boundaries not only in a healthcare team but also their own career. The Foundation Degree has the potential to operate as a space for learning and career progression that blurs boundaries, professional identities, role definitions and responsibilities. Taking a communities of practice perspective, foundation degree students are potentially boundary creatures working in the nexus of academic and practice based knowledge as well as professional, role and registered/unregistered boundaries. This is not unproblematic. To occupy such a space may yield rich learning experiences but also presents challenges for workplaces and students. A number of European countries have promoted work-based learning and closer integration of the worlds of education and work. In the United Kingdom, the Foundation Degree was launched as a predominantly work-based qualification underpinned by two drivers. The first was the need to widen participation in higher education by allowing open entry and 'learning while earning.' The second driver was the need for 'lifelong learning' - an agenda of enhancing economic competitiveness in the knowledge economy through workforce transformation. In the UK health and social care field, the foundation degree is rising in profile. It corresponds with the National Health Service's modernisation agenda - a service-wide agenda reconfiguring roles and responsibilities in the health service and resting on vision of a flexible, skilled and qualified staff. Moreover, opportunities for professional development tied to clear career pathways are presented as a strategy to address the prevalent problem of staff recruitment and retention. By targeting assistants in health and social care, the Foundation Degree has the potential to address the continuing professional development needs of a group often lacking in opportunities for formal development or even clinical supervision. The Open University Foundation degree in Health and Social Care focuses on learning through practice to meet the needs of a specific work setting but also operates within an academic framework. This paper considers the challenges in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment arising from a degree programme that attempts to work in partnership with workplaces to create synergies between work practices and academic knowledge. It explores the tensions between university-based pedagogies and realities of workplace practice. Drawing from the results of an scoping study involving potential candidates for the foundation degree, it presents an analysis of student reactions to the pedagogy of the course and the affordances offered by their workplace for this type of learning. It explores the usefulness of the communities of practice theoretical framework for conceptualising this area. A methodology for a larger study into the pedagogy of Foundation Degrees and the capacity of workplaces to support this type of learning will be discussed.