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Over a period of 50 years at Kiruna iron ore mine in the far north of Sweden, we can see a transformation of work from underground to remote control at surface level. What characterized the old underground workface was the close relation between man and the hard rock centred on arduous physical work under dangerous conditions. Today, the face miners are located 'up in the sky' on the seventh level of an office building close to the mine. The workers leave their job at the end of the shift just as clean as when they arrived. The contact with the hard rock is mediated by machines controlled by remote control technology. The modern technology has created a new type of work - new in terms of competencies and knowledge as well as workload. The purpose of this article is to reflect on the technical development of underground mining in Kiruna and to consider the implications it has had on qualifications, identity and gender. There is an emerging, and in many aspects already evident, knowledge transformation - from the old and obsolete physical and tacit knowledge and skills (for example the ability to 'read the rock') to something new which can be described as abstract knowledge. But the old culture still provides an important context for workplace learning and the construction of identity and gender. This is associated with a degree of 'worker identity lag' and to difficulties in adapting attitudes and norms to the demands and structures that result from the new technology and the new work tasks. The new forms of work in the mine have less need for the traditional mining competencies, attitudes and ideals. The traditional workplace culture and its 'macho style' have also been challenged. Workers have to find new ways to learn and to develop a workplace culture more attuned to a new type of worker identity and masculinity.

Reviewing multiple traditions of social analysis of work, skill and knowledge, this article seeks to renew the possibility for a critical, integrated approach. Contextualizing and then criticizing the ongoing 'up-skilling/de-skilling impasse', I offer discussion of several alternative conceptual resources that may contribute to a more robust appreciation for learning and human development, potentially unified under a suggested 'Use-Value Thesis' on the labour/learning process. It is argued that recognizing 'use-value' sets the stage for a broader systemic understanding of the contradictory processes (e.g. up-skilling/de-skilling, engagement/alienation, co-operation/conflict) that occur simultaneously in all workplaces under capitalism, and in turn offers a means to more coherently assess the full range of human learning.

This article argues that there is a need to move beyond narrow ways of thinking about training to incorporate broader notions of 'workforce development' and 'skill ecosystems'. A market-based approach to skills development is contrasted with a social consensus model, which takes a more integrated view of how skills are formed and sustained. However, following a review of Australia's brief and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to develop something akin to a social consensus approach, we argue that there is much to be gained from a workforce development approach and an understanding of skill formation as occurring in the context of skill ecosystems. To be most effective this approach to skill formation requires the facilitation of networks and nurturing of partnerships among the different agents and agencies concerned with skill development. Recent initiatives in Australia that explicitly adopt a skill ecosystem and workforce development orientation demonstrate the potential of these approaches to overcome many of the problems associated with currently dominant market-based approaches and avoid the pitfalls of social consensus models.

Technology is making smaller scale, distributed production more economical, raising global competition and forcing change on traditional firms in mature markets. Change was gradual for decades but accelerated during the last ten or fifteen years as new computing and communications (C&C) technologies helped coordinate production flows, making firms break up and distribute their value chains over markets of subcontractors and changing the work environment of individuals. I investigate the consequences for individuals of the faster creative destruction process that is taking place through the turnover of firms rather than internally within firms. I conclude that labour market risks are changing such that entrepreneurial ability, intellectual flexibility and a capacity to learn efficiently from experience will become competitive advantages for individuals. I also conclude that efficient education may offer a way of countering the ongoing polarization of labour markets and I derive a platform theory of cumulative learning from experience that emphasizes the acquisition of basic skills during early school years. A varied and advanced job environment to learn from is probably the most important factor, sustaining the competitive advantage of the advanced industrial economies. A stylized comparison of the educational and labour market systems suggests that the European systems are at a disadvantage compared to that of the US.