The issue of recognising spaces as a learning context has received much attention in the educational debate of the past twenty years, and especially during the most recent decade across a number of countries worldwide, and in particular, in Asia and Europe (Chisholm et al, 2012). The role of learning spaces for lifelong learning specifically in relation to the education of adults has been and remains one of the central points of this debate. A significant body of research literature (e.g. Edwards, 2006; Evans et al 2006; Malloch et al, 2011) brings attention to the significance of the workplace context and the distinctive features associated with learning within a working space, and its impact on individual motivations, experiences and outcomes.  As earlier suggested in the 1995 research by Nonaka and Takeuchi, shared mental models at work relate to shared space within, and this provide opportunities for learning, knowledge sharing and linking practice and context within social situations  (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995).   What employees learn as ‘learners in the workplace’ and in experiences beyond the workplace (Livingstone, 2006) leads to the development of new forms of knowledge and competence.

The consideration of workplace learning and its different configurations has underpinned the complexities between work, learning, agency and space. The interdependencies between individual engagement, competence development and organisational context strongly relate to workplace social practices and the ways they reflect and shape culture and social structures including work organisations (Chisholm et al, 2012). The complexities of workplace learning have been reflected in the changing requirements for competence development and its interplay with the changing nature of the learning space at work. The exercise of agency through the virtual environment has the potential to facilitate learning at work, relating it to other spaces and environments.

Although the notion of the learning space at work has been a subject of research in a number of international studies, the continuous development of the learning society as well as the expansion of new types of workplace spaces, call for further research to advance our knowledge and understanding of the ways individuals exercise their skills and agency and learn in the workplace. In the symposium we would like to discuss a way into understanding the complexities of factors that impact on learning in the workplace, through the interplay of actors, structures, processes and environments. This interplay is not restricted to the workplace but involves the overlap of learning spaces and other contexts that extend way beyond the workplace. The concept of learning in, for and through the workplace (Evans et al, 2006) thus attends to the social processes that shape employees’ perceptions and attitudes towards engagement in workplace learning, thus influencing their professional and personal development and life chances within the workplace and beyond.

In four papers the researchers of the network 2 on workplace learning of ASEM LLL Hub[1]are inviting the auditory to discuss different perspectives on the concept of working places as learning spaces. Based on theoretical and empirical research from five different European countries, the authors present their versions of new perspectives on nature of workplace learning.

[1] See http://asemlllhub.org/researchnetworks/workplacelearning/ for information about the network, its membership and to access its reports and publications.

Chisholm, L., Lunardon, K., Ostendorf, A., Pasqualioni, P.P. (eds) (2012). Decoding the meanings of learning at work in Asia and Europe. Innsbruck University Press. Edwards, R., Gallagher J. and Whittaker, S. eds (2004) Learning Outside the Academy: International research perspectives on lifelong learning. London, Routledge. Evans, K., Hodkinson, P., Rainbird, H. and Unwin, L. (2006) Improving workplace learning. New York: Routledge. Livingstone, D. W. (2006). Informal Learning: Conceptual Distinctions and Preliminary Findings. New York: Peter Lang. Malloch, M., L. Cairns, K. Evans, B. N. O´Connor (Eds.) (2011). The Sage Handbook of Workplace Learning. SAGE. Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H. (1995) The Knowledge Creating Company. New York: Oxford University Press.