Learning engagement is informed by people’s cultural and social experiences, relationships and identities. Developing innovative and successful approaches to training in regional/remote contexts is underpinned by effective partnerships and the recognition of diverse knowledge systems as they relate to the worlds of work, community engagement and learning. This study utilised a critical ethnographic methodolgy to examine the role of identity in the engagement of regioanlly based, disenfranchised people in learning experiences. The findings explored the learning partnerships that inform engagement in learning as powerful mediators of learner experience and identity. The implications for learning policy, pedagogy and research are discussed.