The 2001 European Commission Memorandum on Lifelong Learning remains one of the most important influences on policy development in lifelong learning throughout the EU. The right is emphasized for all workers to have a level of ‘basic skills’ necessary for employment and citizenship participation. Governments have adopted a variety of approaches, in some cases promoting large-scale publicly–funded programmes (OECD 2006). The shape and delivery of these programmes has been determined to a  large extent by  the economic and institutional structures of the country in question (Evans, 2009) with England giving a higher priority to workplace delivery of literacy and language provision than many other countries, including , within the UK, Scotland and Wales. Using longitudinal data from the ESRC-funded ‘Adult Basic Skills and Workplace learning’ project (2003-2008), together with recent findings from research undertaken in LLAKES (ESRC Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies), this paper addresses the research question: what are key factors that facilitate and inhibit sustainable workplace provision for the development of employees’ ‘basic’ skills, particularly in the area of literacy development?  Findings from the research in companies based in England and Scotland are compared with the factors and conditions identified in Bruhlin and Svensson's (2012) Swedish study of the impact of large scale EU-funded programmes.

We draw on the metaphor of a social ecology of learning (Bronfenbrenner, 1979;Weaver-Hightower, 2008; Evans, 2006,2009;Evans and Waite, 2011) to explore the inter-relationships between individuals and groups at policy and organizational levels and combine this with Michael de Certeau’s theoretical work on ‘quotidian’ social practices in order to cast light on the diverse ways in which workplace provision has been put to use by learners. Michel de Certeau’s  work on quotidian social practices - and in particular his conceptual distinction between ‘strategies’ and ‘tactics’- provide a useful theoretical framework for understanding the processes of adaptation and accommodation entailed in the implementation of this type of provision. Rather than explicitly subverting or rejecting dimensions of workplace provision (Illeris 2011) the research reveals what employees have ‘made of’ the opportunities afforded by these courses and the learning spaces at work ( Kersh 2010; Kirpal 2011)  by using them with regard to ends and references that extend beyond the workplace.

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