Today’s research on workplace learning stresses the importance of the environment in which learning takes place. On the basis of an empirical study of a Vocational Education and Training (VET) program this thesis aims to create knowledge about how a learning environment is constructed. Theoretically, the study is based within action theory and takes an organizational pedagogical point of departure. It is rooted both in constructivist theory, as well as draws on the theory of learning as culturally and socially situated. The study is designed as a single case study. Data was primarily collected during periods of field studies through the observation of teachers’ work inside and outside classroom settings; recurring in-depth interviews with six teachers and eight participants, and reflection group interviews with the teachers. The study reveals a difference between participants’ and teachers’ educational goals and ambitions. This is important to acknowledge due to the necessity for the teachers to handle the difference. It gives information on daily work in the VET-program and the important work tasks that emerge. The program is influenced by the ideological foundations developed by its principal organizer, which comes to play as a special way of reasoning, the Yes-thought. Much of the daily work consists of an adjustable way of working and an approach that supports it. However, two tension fields can be identified in which discretion in work tasks is created. The first concerns the approach to work tasks, and is a tension between dynamic and instrumental approaches. The second concerns the organizing of work tasks and is a tension between adjustable and regulating ways of working. Micro context is introduced as a concept, referring to the context of meaning which is created around work tasks. Depending on the micro context’s position in the two tension fields, different conditions of learning can be identified. The micro contexts can then be understood as the learning environments in the work place.

Many schools have adopted social and emotional learning programs, but few schools have achieved significant impacts on student outcomes because of challenges with implementation quality. Although there is guidance on selecting evidence-based social and emotional learning programs for classroom use, schools need guidance on how best to integrate social and emotional learning in context. This study examines how an elementary school integrated school-wide social and emotional learning into its daily practices, using a qualitative single case study grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. The study, which was conducted during an eight-week period, identifies promising practices that could be beneficial for implementing and improving social and emotional learning practices. Data collection includes multiple sources of data, such as observations, document analyses, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. Drawing upon Stake’s (1995) process for data analysis, the following themes emerge: (1) routines and shared practices, (2) physical environment and classrooms, (3) common language (4) school family, and (5) leadership support for social and emotional learning. The implications of this study support understandings of what integrated school-wide social and emotional learning programming look like in an elementary school context. Keywords: school-wide, integrated, social and emotional learning, SEL, school micro-contexts, elementary school, implementation, school-wide SEL programming.