Action learning comes of age ‐ part 3: action learning for what?

The third in a series of four articles that seeks to answer questions about the applicability of action learning. Aims to look at what can be learned using action learning; and seeks to identify what can be best learned by action learning and what is best learned by other methods. Concludes that action learning is most likely to produce learning that is personal, situational and emergent. It is less likely to be learning that can be closely specified in advance or is skill based. Action learning is most valuable for higher level professional development (i.e. developing excellence) and less useful for the development of foundation skills (i.e. developing competence) where instruction and training remain more important.