During VET, apprentices become professionals through theoretical and practical knowledge acquirement, but also by constructing meaning out of their training experience (Zittoun, 2016). Thus, the apprenticeship period also signifies a personal and social identity transformation. This vocational identity work currently develops within a socio-economic context where individuals are faced with requirements of lifelong learning to adapt to changes within the world of work. It has been argued that vocational identities could become fragile or even obsolete. However, this presentation highlights the persistence of vocational identity work and sheds light on the role of concrete activity carried out during workplace training (Dubar, 1998, Cohen-Scali, 2003). Among others, Saboya (2008) has highlighted the importance of professional practice for identities construction.

The aim of the presentation is to show how bricklaying apprentices in Switzerland gradually take on the tasks assigned to them, how they perform within their work team, and how this "doing together" and involvement in joint production (Lhuilier, 2007) can be a source of identification with the trade and the vocational role.

Clinical activity theory and historico-cultural psychology allow us to grasp the concept of work activity. According to Leontiev (1984), taken up by French labor clinicians (Clot, 1998), labor activity links the subject, the object and “others”, and is thus threefold directed: emanating from the subject, activity acts on him or her, and is directed towards the object but also towards the activities of others. Activity is also embedded in socio-historical contexts (the techniques and materials used (Léontiev, 1984)) and in a specific vocational environment (the "genres" of the transmitted activity (Clot, 1998)).

Applied to bricklaying, the "object" is what is built, such as a wall, screed, staircase, earthwork, or building. Important is that the activities of apprentices are constituted by the activities of their colleagues for instance when they place a formwork panel together with the crane operator and other fellow bricklayers, or when they co-construct a brick wall. If they measure the correct placement of a house wall they even  prepare the activities of other professionals such as painters or electrical installers for example. Thus, all these activities need to take into account the others’ contributions to the final product.

The aim of this presentation is to discuss the link between concrete activities and learners’ identity work. To do this, we have to focus on the feeling of progress, autonomy, and recognition. Progress and increasing autonomy at work enable self-recognition within work. Conversely, work quality is prevented (“qualité empêchée”, Clot, 2010) this means learners can no longer recognize themselves. Thus, vocational identity can only develop within a work context where the apprentice can make a personal contribution, and where s/he can be satisfied with the accomplished tasks.

Recognition of one’s work by others (El Akremi, Sassi, Bouzidi, 2009) and responsibility (Capdevielle-Mougnibas, 2015) are also considered essential for identity construction during VET. Without the sense of "being useful" and of contributing to company's activities, the learner experiences devaluation and relegation into a lower position within the team.

With regard to these aspects of work activities, the following hypotheses are investigated:

-       The bricklaying apprentices’ sensation of progress in their professional learning and of gain in autonomy in their work, positively affects the development of their vocational identity.

-       The recognition of "well done work" by colleagues and superiors, as well as giving responsibilities for the tasks which have to be carried out, also positively affects the development of apprentices’ vocational identities. They are valued as becoming professionals.

The first hypothesis emphasizes the recognition by oneself, while the second underlines the recognition by others, both of them influencing each other.

The analysis is based on an ongoing qualitative, comparative study with retail, bricklaying and automation apprentices in dual VET, in which trainees follow theoretical lessons 1 to 1.5 days a week in school, and do practical training in companies 3.5 to 4 days. The study is conducted in seven Swiss VET schools in French and German speaking cantons. In order to examine occupational identity work of apprentices, observations during courses and pauses, group discussions and semi-structured interviews with apprentices (20 to 30 per apprenticeship) are conducted. Transcribed data is analyzed by the Grounded Theory Methodology. The bricklaying study has been recently finished and data is currently analyzed. The encountered apprentices are at the end of their first apprenticeship year, as we want to understand their initial occupational identity work, which will continue throughout their training. Future group discussions with these apprentices are planned to follow up. The study is financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Our preliminary results in terms of apprentices' activities and the relation to their vocational identity work show the following: first, the feeling of progress does not concern all apprentices. Some of them say they have been doing the same work since the beginning of apprenticeship, without moving on to more complicated or difficult tasks. However, there is no direct link between a feeling of non-progression and a lower motivation or identification with the trade. Second, the importance of autonomy must to be analyzed carefully, given that many professional practices in the construction sector are carried out in team-work, together with other people, at least in groups of two. Thus, autonomy is less visible at first. But if we take a closer look, we find that apprentices who make the experience of being personally able to take initiatives, or to “see what has to be done next”, are also those who describe themselves as particularly attached to the bricklaying trade. With regard to the recognition of work by others, we note that bricklaying apprentices do not necessarily seek explicit verbal recognition for their work. Nonetheless, implicit recognition through being integrated in a work team, sharing humor and good laugh at work, and being implicated in the company’s production process gives the feeling to contribute as a full member to the work at the building site. On the other hand, as described by Capdevielle-Mougnibas (2015), an explicit non-recognition in form of devaluating language has an immediate effect on their self-esteem. It can lead to disinvestment and even disruption of the apprenticeship contract, if there is no remediation, by moving the apprentice to another work team for example. We have found that this measure is frequently taken within the bricklaying apprenticeship.

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