Company-based trainers: attitudes and career-paths in French-speaking Switzerland

ABSTRACT Vocational training is the most popular form of post-compulsory education in Switzerland. Two-thirds of young people end up in vocational education after compulsory schooling, of whom around 80% go into the dual training system. This involves the weekly rotation between one or two days of school-based theoretical and practical instruction and three to four days of company-based practical training, under the guidance of on-the-job trainers. The role of these on-the-job trainers has not been extensively studied to date. This thesis aims to fill this research gap by highlighting the internal diversity of this group. To so do, the thesis adopts a qualitative and comprehensive approach, relying mainly on 80 semi-directive interviews carried out with on-the-job trainers in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. The analysis draws extensively on concepts and notions drawn from the sociology of work. With the help of a descriptive typology, four ideal-type profiles of on-the-job trainers could be identified: ‘entrepreneurs’, ‘artisans’, ‘converted’ and ‘resigned’. These ideal types reveal the diversity of on-the-job training practices, depending on the professional ethos of trainers and the concrete conditions under which they carry out their duties. Comparison of the four ideal types also sheds some light on the major challenges facing the Swiss on-the-job training system at present, namely the lack of time to train and the lack of recognition for on-the-job trainers. On the basis of these results, we make a series of recommendations for the various institutions involved in the Swiss dual training system.