Description: This paper problematizes situated learning theories of workplace learning by discussing the significance of adult employees' biographical experience and knowledge as well as in the context of workplace activity and culture. Much recent research about learning in the workplace prioritizes the social dimensions of learning - communal and organizational. Conceptualizing the place of the individual within participatory studies of workplace learning which emphasize social processes is deceptively difficult, as discussed in Evans et al (2006) with reference to the work of Lave and Wenger, Billett, Engestrom and others . In the present analysis, workers are seen are both part of and separate from their workplace community: they have prior experience, together with lives and identities that far extend beyond it. Analysis of data from a set of related projects suggests several overlapping and inter-linked ways in which biography is relevant to learning at work. Methodology: The paper is based on analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, including more than 100 case studies, from a series of projects led by the author. The paper focuses principally on latest findings from the UK Economic and Social Research Council project on Adult Basic Skills and Workplace Learning, but also draws on a related ESRC study on Improving Workplace Learning and on European projects involving partners in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Portugal and Greece (see Evans and Niemeyer 2004; Evans et al (2004) Evans et al (2006). The research designs are longitudinal. In the ESRC Adult Basic Skills and Workplace Learning project the research employs a combination of quantitative data (assessments administered on multiple occasions; attitude inventories; employment and earnings histories; enterprise data including labour turnover and absentee rates) and qualitative data (learner biographies, personal accounts, tutor and supervisor/manager interviews, field notes), in researching the experiences of 400 adult employees in 40 organisations over a five year period to 2008. Conclusions: Our emergent findings are linking into wider agendas in the field of work-based learning, by elaborating our understanding of the importance of 'situatedness' in workplace learning - in practical, organizational and biographical terms. Practical and organizational situatedness have been recognized as ingredients for engagement with work-related learning (see Evans and Niemeyer 2004). Theories of 'situated learning' emphasize that knowledge and skills are products of the culture and context of the workplace. But this is not where learning begins and ends, as our cases have shown. The importance of 'timeliness' in terms of the persons' biographical development is a dimension that appears strongly in our evidence so far, as are the more general benefits of the learning on offer to the individuals concerned. This has parallels in debates that have raged in areas of practice such as 'Adult Basic Skills' field, over 'contextualization.' In such areas, we know that narrow contextualization often fails; that broad contextualization works better but ignores individual motivations and prior learning. Broad contextualization combined with understanding of individual learner dispositions, motivations and what the learner actually wants, appears to offer better prospects for engagement and effective learning. Wider organizational environments are also significant. Workplace learning programmes need environments that support and reward the engagement of the workers if they are to be successfully sustained. In the longer term, we are investigating how far learning outcomes may be linked with the development of social capital within the organization as well as in the wider lives of the adult workers.