Proposes that situational factors in communities of practice should be considered when examining the social origins of knowledge and individual construction of it. Suggests that, because existing knowledge interacts with that from history, culture, and community, the roles of particular social circumstances in the construction of individuals'…

Interviews with skilled mine workers in Queensland, Australia, suggest that informal learning in the workplace enables authentic activities, access to experts, and sociocultural environment conductive to the development of expertise. Skilled work means technical competence in a context of sociocultural values. (SK)

This paper conceptualises a basis for understanding learning in workplaces. This comprises a duality between how access to workplace activities and guidance is afforded, on the one hand, and how workers elect to engage with what is afforded to them, on the other. This reciprocal basis for thinking, acting and learning is referred to as…