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Learning always takes place in a particular context and the issues involved in the analysis of social practices oriented towards learning within different settings 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 and 'work encounter' context . The TLRP project on had a central focus on the relationship between learning and context, see, for example: . Richard Edwards (2005) acknowledges that all social practices are contextualised and involve learning, but argues how those practices are conceptualised is more contentious, and that learning contexts can be used in various ways and frame very different learning activities: . The TLRP project also focused upon how in situations where professionals from different agencies had to work together then boundary-crossing and learning to work in a variety of contexts was of critical importance. The relationship between learning in different contexts is often framed by concerns of how to mobilise the full resources of learners in specific situations: for example, how to get adults re-entering the workplace to draw upon the skills, knowledge and understanding they had acquired elsewhere: see, for example, by Karen Evans and Natasha Kersh (2004). Questions about how to conceptualise the relationship between learning and context becomes even more challenging when the focus is upon learning across the life course: . The projects tracked the learning of trainee speech and language therapists while making diagnoses of 'virtual patients' and in subsequent discussions of difficult topics with other students or tutors, learning that spanned a number of contexts.

Learning through the lifecourse

While the focus here is primarily upon workplace learning, this can be more broadly framed as an element of learning across the lifecourse. TLRP was interested in how some people develop confidence and succeed as learners, whilst others do not, and in how learning and development can contribute to work, careers, social inclusion and fulfilment through life. See, for example, a special issue of (Volume 39, Number 2, Autumn 2007), which included:

• 
  Studies in the Education of Adults, Vol. 39, No. 2. (2007), pp. 121-131. Author: Ecclestone, Kathryn
• 
  Studies in the Education of Adults, Vol. 39, No. 2. (2007), pp. 132-149(18). Authors: Biesta, Gert; Tedder, Michael
• 
  Studies in the Education of Adults, Vol. 39, No. 2. (2007), pp. 168-182(15). Author: Wojecki, Andrew
• 
  Studies in the Education of Adults, Vol. 39, No. 2. (2007), pp. 197-216(20). Author: Persson, Sybil
• 
  Studies in the Education of Adults, Vol. 39, No. 2. (2007), pp. 217-235(19). Author: Fuller, Alison

All TLRP projects can be positioned within a lifelong learning framework, but one project explicitly engages with these issues . For other projects here we just highlight some of the issues that arise in certain stages of education that have profound effects upon learning and development later in life. The (EPPE) followed the developmental trajectories of 3000 randomly selected children in 141 preschool settings, and the EPPE study showed the positive influence of early childhood education, especially for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and those at risk of developing special educational needs. The emphasised the importance of helping children become self-motivated, autonomous learners who enjoyed the process of learning and understood what they needed to do to meet new challenges, and this had clear consequences for how they were likely to regard learning and development in future. The project showed how the patterns and dynamics in pupils' learning strategies, emergent identities and pupil careers unfolded over time and through successive learning and social contexts during their school careers from 5 to 16.

In further education, the , and the projects all emphasised how tutors could help learners rebuild their learner identities that had often been fractured in some way by their previous educational experiences. Workplace adult basic skills provision could also give workers confidence as learners as the project showed.

In higher education, the and the projects both highlighted how, while still undergraduates, many musical performers are preparing to play a number of diverse roles after graduation. These roles may involve performing, teaching and other work activities and the ability to continue learning could be central to maintaining a 'portfolio career.' The importance of the ability to transfer learning between contexts was also emphasised in the Seminar Series on and in the project.

Learning and development also occur outside education and work contexts and both the and projects examine the type of learning and development people engage in later in life and the significance of this for their identities. One of the outputs of the former project showed how the intertwined themes that emerged from the discussions related to discontinuity and change, situational and institutional influences on education and learning and the possible influence of personality factors and values as well as issues of gender, class and race. The offer a rich vein of outputs on how issues of learning, identity and agency change over the life-course.