Guest editorial

Abstract

Welcome to the first issue of the Journal of Work-Applied Management of 2021 and this special issue on "The nexus of work-applied skills and learning: comparative approaches across sectors".When we created this call for papers, we were considering the juxtaposition and role of skills and knowledge learnt in the workplace with that of academic learning (Bravenboer and Lester, 2016). The packaging up of learning into formal structures has been evident for some time, for example, in highly technical knowledge fields and sectors such as information technology. For instance, the integration of manufacturer-based training has been common practice for a number of years (Helyer, 2011). Yet such dynamics also appear in systems where work-based or workplace learning is understood through units and modules, especially where the aim of policy reform can deepen such technocratic and instrumental structures (Wall and Perrin, 2015). More recently, there has been a growing level of sophistication in the way that work-based learning and academic learning has converged. In part, this is due to the increased emphasis that policymakers have placed on, for example, apprenticeships in the United Kingdom.This has provided a range of possibilities for developing academic programmes that integrate work-based academic learning. It has also challenged the orthodoxies around the way that work-based learning is being theorised and facilitated in higher education and blurred the boundaries between work-based and academic learning. But do such dynamics act as provocative mechanisms for workplace impact; as Ramsey (2011, 2014) and Wall (2016) suggest, do they constrain and dampen impact and innovation at work, or are we seeing new pathways of learning and impact at work?We believe that conventions can be challenged, and novel approaches considered in order to bridge the gap between these forms of learning. When we created the call for papers for this special issue, we did not anticipate contributors would be writing, and we would be editing, in the course of a pandemic. The editors of the previous edition of the journal noted that any reference to the coronavirus would be of passing concern and most workers may be working in their familiar, physical workplace again, having worked remotely for some months (Scott et al., 2020). Yet here we are, still navigating the tightrope of the pandemic, trying to maintain the balance between our work and family lives.We can be in no doubt about the devastation caused by the pandemic has forced us to reconsider how we work and how we learn and the integration between the two. For some, learning was needed as we aimed to work remotely and effectively in very different circumstances. In so much as needing the ability to adapt to the changing physical and virtual worlds. It seems essential for work-applied learning to offer the tools to support change. New practices in how we work have become commonplace, a renewed emphasis on well-being as we work and learn in different physical and digital environments.So, pl...