Workplace experiences are increasingly being used to enrich and extend students’ experi-ences and learning. In tertiary education, they are often directed towards the educational purpose of making students job ready on graduation, but they can be used for other purposes, such as preparing students for the world of work beyond schooling. This contribution makes reference to and draws on a set of studies in schooling and tertiary education to propose the need for more consideration of the actual learning that arises through these experiences, and how they can be effectively integrated into the students’ courses for these kinds of educational purposes. This includes engaging students in critically appraising their own and their peers’ experiences. Regardless of whether they are about assisting students’ experience and understand what occupations they are suited to, or preparing them to practice those occupations, there is a need for clear alignments among the particular educa-tional purposes, selection and organisation of experiences, and an integration of those experiences. What may be novel here is considering carefully the kinds of contributions that come from work-place experiences, and their integration and augmentation within educational programs.