In educational or sociological research it remains unusual for researchers to conduct restudies, particularly those that involve tracing respondents after a great deal of time has elapsed. However, by tracing and re-interviewing respondents from earlier projects it becomes possible to add a longitudinal dimension to once 'one-off' cross-sectional studies. We argue that such restudies have a vital role to play in understanding the role of workplace in individual's careers and working lives. The rediscovery of 854 interview schedules from a youth transitions project, carried out at the University of Leicester between 1962 and 1964, provides an opportunity to test the actual lived experiences of concepts such as lifelong learning and to examine the impacts of workplace learning. This rediscovered data has been used to form part of a new ESRC project 'From Young Workers To Older Workers: Reflections on Work in the Life Course'. Using data from the original interviews and from re-interviews undertaken some forty years later, this paper aims to answer three questions:

1. How did respondents experience and perceive education, training and workplace learning during the early 1960s? ;
2. To what extent have the early workplace learning experiences impacted upon the subsequent career and workplace learning experiences of the respondents?;
3. How do the respondents now account for the workplace learning experiences that they have had?

The original 1960s survey contained detailed questions on all aspects of early workplace learning experiences. For example the respondents were asked to talk about how they learnt the skills required for their current job. The respondents also provided a range of evidence on the nature and type of training and workplace learning they were involved in. From this data a number of themes emerge. First, that despite current notions that learning at work is somehow a recent concept, workplace learning was widespread through all industries and occupations in the 1960s. Second, learning at work, and employers support for workplace learning, was so highly prized by the young workers that limited learning opportunities were often cited as the reason for frequent job moves. Third, the data suggests that learning at work was a positive process when compared to formal education. Finally, along with the findings of authors such as Fuller and Unwin (2002), workplace learning for many of the young people entering apprenticeships in the 1960s was as much about acquiring an occupational identity as it was learning the required skills. In the re-interviews, completed during 2003/4 the respondents were asked a number of questions relating to the training they had done and were asked their opinions on the value of continually learning and updating their skills. The data from the re-interviews also reveal a number of interesting themes. First, those respondents who had originally undertaken traditional craft based apprenticeships retained much of their occupational identity, despite the fact that they may now be working in very different industries. Second, the majority of the respondents felt that it was important to continually learn and update their skills. However, despite the positive perception of learning and training, very few had participated in any formal or informal learning activities during the last two years of their careers. Third, many of the respondents, although skilled, had real difficulty in articulating what skills they actually possessed.The paper concludes by reflecting on the validity of using restudies in understanding the significance of workplace learning in individual's careers.