One example drawn from TLRP on the nature of learning trajectories comes from a paper on early career learning in nursing, engineering and accountancy by Carolyn Miller and Claire Blackman (2005) to be presented at the Researching Work and Learning conference in Sydney: The shape of the learning curve: trajectories of workplace learning.

One example of the non-trivial nature of the transfer of skills, knowldege and experience between contexts for learning at work comes from the application of mathematical knowledge in work settings: Techno-mathematical Literacies in the Workplace.

Eraut (2005) argues that 'given the complexity of knowledge and learning, my preferred model of progression is a set of inter-related learning trajectories. This recognizes the principle of lifelong learning and does not assume that learning follows stages that correspond to artificial stopping points associated with competence or qualifications which, in spite of the rhetoric, rarely coincide. However, we also have to be careful not to assume that learning trajectories necessarily progress onwards and upwards. When knowledge is not used, it atrophies through lack of opportunity or failure to transfer it to a new context. When accustomed practices cease to be the best practices, because of new developments or changes in the client population or wider social environment, then the trajectory falls quite rapidly because it has effectively been recalibrated. Those who have to change their practices as a consequence have to unlearn the old practices before they can construct new practices, a disorienting and emotional experience, better expressed by the metaphor of a rollercoaster than that of a learning curve. Such discontinuities in what counts as good practice are an inevitable part of professional life, for which mid-career professionals are rarely prepared. As noted in a previous editorial (Eraut 2004), this is largely because the role of tacit knowledge in routinized professional practice is greatly underestimated, if not denied. However, discontinuities are more avoidable in areas where practice is more explicit, less routinized and more clearly linked to relatively simple theoretical concepts, especially if the relevant know-how can be communicated through words or simple demonstration, without requiring complex situational understanding (p. 2).'

Eraut (2005) further draws attention to how 'transitions between education contexts and practice contexts are generally experienced as major causes of discontinuity. This often leads to considerable scepticism towards professional educators, partly because the discourse of professional education is rarely equipped to deal with knowledge transfer, and partly because education and practice use differently defined learning trajectories. In educational contexts, learning trajectories are aligned to aspects of academic, codified knowledge or to the skills of interacting, critical thinking and learning in a formal environment dominated by assessments. In practice settings, the trajectories are aligned to types of client and how they are treated, the performance of tasks and roles, the development and sustenance of relationships with clients and colleagues, and contributions to group or organizational activities. The bridging role of problem-based learning stems from the use of a case-based approach to knowledge in an educational context, rather than in a practice context. By linking theoretical knowledge to practice-based modes of thinking it provides an advanced organizer for case-base problem-solving, but does not address the skills involved in collecting evidence from patients. Nor does it provide continuity of learning in either academic knowledge or case knowledge. Thus, it provides excellent lateral continuity, but little vertical continuity (p. 2). 

• Eraut, M. (2005) Editorial, Learning in Health and Social Care 4 (1), 1-6.
• Eraut M. (2004) Learning to change and/or changing to learn. Learning in Health and Social Care 3, 111–117.