[3] Alison Fuller's research focuses on work transitions, apprenticeships, vocational education and training, and workplace learning.
[4] Face to wide variation in UK apprentices' experiences with seemingly similar programmes, Fuller and Unwin co-operated with a range of enterprises to perform case study research on their apprenticeships.
[5][6] Arguing that the Modern Apprenticeship programme was being undermined by a lack of employer demand and commitment and resulted in poor outcomes, Fuller and Unwin have moreover been critical of public plans to expand the programme as a means of social inclusion.
[10] Together with Unwin, Alan Felstead, David Ashton, Peter Butler and Tracey Lee, Fuller makes the case for a conceptualization of learning as a form of participation, wherein individual performance at work can be substantially enhanced by social relationships and mutual support, a perspective ignored by the prevailing metaphor of "learning as acquisition".
[11] Finally, Fuller and Unwin have challenged the picture of a linear trajectory for apprenticeships wherein older employees mould novices into experts, where expertise is equated with experience.