Learning to work and learning while working: school-to-work transition narratives of ITE graduates in Singapore

<p dir="ltr">Workplace learning is widely recognised as a critical component of vocational education and training (VET), yet its relationship with informal and life-wide learning remains underexplored. This paper examines how graduates from Singapore's Institute of Technical Education (ITE) navigate school-to-work transitions, shedding light on the learning affordances and challenges they encounter while learning across domains. By adopting a biographical narrative approach, this study situates learning at work within the broader context of individuals' life and work transitions, providing a more realistic and dynamic understanding of how learning unfolds beyond structured training programs. Drawing on Hallqvist et al.'s narrative approach to biographical learning, Billett's relational perspective on learning and sociological analysis, this paper highlights the ways in which ITE graduates engage with learning opportunities, negotiate workplace expectations, and leverage informal learning spaces. Their experiences reveal that while formal workplace training plays a key role in skill development, learning is deeply embedded in everyday practices, interactions, personal agency and structured opportunities. Crucially, the study uncovers the disconnects and weak linkages between learning in different settings, raising important questions about how vocational learners can be better supported throughout their career. By foregrounding personal narratives, this paper provides insights into how workplace structures, institutional policies, and broader socio-economic conditions shape, and sometimes constrain, learning across domains. The consideration of individuals' past experiences, current life circumstances and future aspirations in these biographical narratives meant the findings are not merely relevant to the immediate employment site but also to the lifelong learning journeys of the individuals. The findings also have practical implications for practice and policy, emphasising the need for stronger connections between formal education, workplace learning, and informal skill and value acquisition. This includes developing more coherent support systems, fostering mentoring programs and designing workplaces as learning-rich environments. Ultimately, this paper advocates for a more integrated and sustainable approach to lifelong learning, recognising that effective capacity building and development is not confined to singular domains but emerges from the interweaving of structured training, workplace experiences, and personal learning trajectories. By recognising and bridging these learning spaces, we can better equip vocational learners for adaptability, career progression, and meaningful lifelong development.</p>