Introduction: what are knowledge work practices in education? How can we study and promote them?

New kinds of jobs require managing new kinds of work life competences and a number of such key competences for lifelong learning which equip young people for further learning and employability in a knowledge society have already been identified. Research has however indicated that formal education is not providing adequate support and opportunities for acquiring the needed competencies in practice. More discussion and empirical research is needed about knowledge work competences and related practices in secondary schools, higher education and in the work life. The theme of this special Issue is ‘Knowledge work: educational practices preparing students for work life’ and it has as its aim to contribute to a discussion on how changes in professional work can be taken into account in educational settings. Of particular interest in this special issue is how educational theory about ‘knowledge-creation’ is applied in practice. The trialogical approach to learning highlights collaborative knowledge creation and the development of shared, mediating objects. This theory and its associated design principles are introduced. The contributions of this special issue relate to implementing ideas of the trialogical approach to learning in various ways and each contribution is briefly presented.