The project presents preliminary results of the research into informal and non-formal training practices of photovoltaic system assemblers in Switzerland. The research follows an empirical subjectivation approach and aims to understand the interrelation between normatively loaded education-discourses, intrinsic learning ambitions and the construction of workers identities. Such knowledge is necessary for understanding increasingly diverse careers and corresponding new learning needs.

In Europe, the competition with uprising economies and the unfolding of a knowledge society has amplified political efforts, to institutionalize a culture of lifelong learning (LLL). Such efforts are accompanied by the establishment of normatively loaded discourse regarding ideal learning-subjects, which emphasize flexibilization, self-disciplining and individual responsibility (Holzer 2014; Mariager et. al 2016; Rothe 2011). The shift in responsibility for one's own positioning in the social hierarchy, has strengthened the importance of educational certificates, gained through formal training. At the same time, research in adult education has come to recognize the importance of informal learning for further education. This applies especially to craftspeople in SMEs who demonstrate a strong culture of “learning by doing” (Dobischat et al. 2019; Eraut 2004; Fenwick 2008). The consequence is a conflictual relationship between the learning ideals conveyed by the LLL-discourse and the learning dispositions of craftspeople. The questions appear, how do craftspeople from SMEs, with extensive experience in lifelong learning, relate to formal education courses and the LLL-discourse throughout their identity-work, and how does their identity as learners instruct their informal learning practices?

The photovoltaic system industry in Switzerland is of special interest for these questions, as it lacks a standardized apprenticeship system and relies on non-formal and informal learning strategies. This circumstance attracts a range of diversely qualified workers with extensive experience in informal and lifelong learning. At the same time, the industry is undergoing a process of formalization, with the first apprenticeship-course starting in 2024 („Grünes Licht für Schweizer Solarlehren ab 2024“ 2022). This change is likely to require experienced assemblers to take part in formal training courses which threatens to devaluate their identity as experienced professionals and conflict with their intrinsic learning ambitions. The goal of this research is to document the strategies of assemblers to address these challenges by looking at both, the institutional adaptations of the companies and the identity-adaptations by the assemblers.

Examining this tension provides valuable insights into the conflictual dichotomy between formal and informal learning and ways to overcome it. Such insights are of importance for establishing ways to formally accredit professional experience, thereby supporting people in their learning needs as career jumpers and lifelong learners. The research is conducted through a qualitative case study approach, involving interviews with assemblers and participatory observations.

In order to be able to describe the assemblers’ learning attitudes and practices, the establishment of a trusting relationship is essential. This is made possible by ethnographic approaches using participant observation. Therefore, I am exposing myself to the informal and non-formal learning practices of assemblers over a period of several months. In addition to field observations, an interview analysis based on subjectification theoretical approaches will be conducted. Empirical subjectivation research is dedicated to the study of people's practices of self-formation within symbolic orders (Geimer et al. 2018, 2). In order to examine the interrelation between embodied and discursive knowledge structures, a methodological consolidation is suggested which combines Geimer's Documentary Subjectification Analysis with Bosancic's Interpretative Subjectification Analysis. Central to the Interpretative Subjectivation Analysis is the merging of discourse and subject analysis. Accordingly, both levels are reconstructed in relation to each other through analyzing the constitution of human self-references. For such an amalgamation, principles of the Sociological Discourse Analysis of knowledge are combined with principles of the American Interpretive Paradigm. With reference to the former, Foucault's concept of discourse is applied so that socially circulating "subject models" and accompanying normative appeal-structures are determined (Bosancic 2014, 171). With reference to the Interpretive Paradigm, on the other hand, Mead's concepts of identity formation are mobilized, so that social interaction processes – as the occur in interviews – come into view for the constitution of self-references (ibid. 77). Geimers approach is based on Bohnsack's documentary method and distinguishes between implicit and reflexive knowledge, whereby it assigns action-guiding relevance to the former (cf. Bohnsack 2009: 321). Accordingly, analytical access to such bodies of knowledge cannot be achieved through a theoretical explication of the interviewees. Instead, it is necessary to explore the "structure of meaning" behind the statements of the interviewees, so that knowledge structures are investigated that are beyond the scope of the interviewees' reflection (ibid.: 324). Accordingly, the central task of the Documentary Method is "to make implicit knowledge explicit" (ibid.). Although in the Documentary Method the focus is on action-guiding knowledge, the interest is not in the actions themselves, but in the orientations of the actors regarding their actions (ibid.: 325). Bohnsack emphasizes the extent to which ultimately such orientation patterns are decisive for the creation of continuity in action (ibid.). Since the different research approaches complement each other in their epistemic design, a triangulation between the approaches is pursued.

Preliminary observations indicate that installers make little reference to the discourse around lifelong learning in their self-narratives. A major reason for this is the individualistic orientation of the discourse. Instead, there are indications that a collectivist motive of local belonging is crucial for the installers, both for their own self-image and for their own motivation to learn. Thus, the self-narratives of the solar installers also hardly mention the contribution made to the preservation of climate goals. Instead, aesthetic components of the newly learned profession in particular come to the fore for identity formation. The observations raise questions regarding successful continuing education strategies for skilled trades.

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