In this paper I begin by outlining the key characteristics of a view of learning that has been pre-eminent in the past 30 years in the United Kingdom. The focus of this discourse has been less upon understanding the processes and practices of learning as a complex process and more upon improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the curriculum and of teaching to meet taken-for-granted needs. Making use of two case studies, I exemplify a connective approach, as a transaction with the environment, which acknowledges both the contextual and incremental character of knowledge-making, and the interplay between different cultural factors and influences, including discourse and identity, that play-upon learning. This recognises the importance of all the different learning opportunities available to young people while lending support to claims for approaches to both the design of the curriculum and teaching that allow young people to learn in formal and informal contexts.