This section on 'Learning contexts and settings' will focus on materials which analyse the social practices oriented towards learning within different settings. Some of the issues involved will include:

• opportunities for learning,
• spaces for learning,
• expectations for learning and
• creating supportive learning contexts.

Other key areas include:

• use of and access to artefacts, information, knowledge

• pressure of work

• expectations, rewards and punishment

• availability and nature of feedback

• challenge and value of work

• organisation and nature of work

• group learning: culture of setting; relationships
  

Additionally, contexts for learning include schools and colleges, workplaces, training centres, networks, communities and families.

Contexts for learning at work include:

• Meeting context
• 'on the job' context
• 'working alongside' context
• 'work encounter' context

The TLRP project on Early Career Learning had a central focus on the relationship between learning and context. The following publication by M. Eraut, S. Steadman, J.Furner, F. Maillardet, C. Miller, A. Ali, and C. Blackman (2004) is therefore a good starting place to examine some of these issues:

Learning in the Professional Workplace: Relationships between Learning Factors and Contextual Factors