The article focuses on the importance of vocational identity and compares this dimension between different branches. As a further aspect, approaches to the development of vocational identity are presented, which Vocational Education and Training (VET) schoolteachers or in-company instructors can provide.

The development of vocational identity is a central target in VET and is of particular importance for the career development of employees. After all, the consideration of vocational identity as a characteristic of successful vocational education and training has a long tradition in the context of scientific analyses of VET and is currently experiencing a certain "renaissance". Vocational identity is to be regarded as a central topic or target in VET and a relevant pattern for analyzing current discourses on the recruitment of skilled workers and the reduction of apprenticeship drop-outs.

Different theoretical operationalization have been written in the literature, and there is no uniform (scientific) definition of "vocational identity". Nevertheless, the development of a vocational identity is a key aspect in VET, especially since a highly developed vocational identity makes a substantial contribution to the development of occupational competence. Therefore, it is a requirement in order to be able to carry out vocational challenges competently and independently (Thole, 2021; Heinrichs et al., 2022).

Rauner (2017) defines vocational identity as follows: "Vocational identity is the result of a development process that is intimately linked to the development of occupational competence. Strictly spoken, the development of vocational identity is a dimension of occupational competence development."

The degree of vocational identity depends on the occupation and apprenticeship, especially since occupations have different identification potentials, i.e. indicators of the attractiveness of an occupation. This means that development is not continuous. Rather, it requires the active engagement of the individual subject with his or her individual occupational environment. Accordingly, the development of vocational identity is based on an interaction with the environmental conditions (in the apprenticeship), in the sense of a subjective experience of vocational identity, reinforced and supported by the individual's self-reflective processes (Rauner, 2017; Thole, 2021; Heinrichs et al., 2022).

With a high level of emotional attachment to the occupation learned, job-related disadvantages, such as low pay or shift work, are often tolerated. In a positive understanding, it can be expected that a strongly developed vocational identity can lead to greater job satisfaction and better performance in everyday working life. Consequently, vocational identity can have an influence on long-term motivation and activity at work, as well as increasing the sense of responsibility and quality awareness (Rauner, 2017). These are reasons why companies and VET schools should have an interest in promoting the vocational identity of their apprentices at an early stage.

Therefore, two research questions are analyzed:

• Which relationships exist between vocational identity and other dimensions such as job satisfaction, or meaningfulness of own work?
• How can schoolteachers and/or in-company instructors (systematically) promote vocational identity in VET?

The aim of this study is to contribute to the support of and the development of vocational identity in VET. In order to achieve this, practical suggestions and advice are given on how to promote vocational identity in apprenticeships in companies and VET schools. The results and suggestions should be transferable to various European countries with a school-based VET system, a dual VET system and also to countries with a "training on the job" approach.

The aim is to provide information on how the development of vocational identity in VET can be promoted in different contexts or systems. The transfer should succeed on the basis of two studies from Germany, which were carried out in various schools and companies in different VET sectors.

The study is based on two data sets from quantitative surveys, which are combined for this presentation. A total of 645 apprentices in industrial-technical apprenticeships and healthcare occupations (both without academic education) were included. The respondents were taken from all three years of apprenticeship and participation was voluntary. Various dimensions were used, which were taken from the research literature (like Rauner 2017 or Barghorn 2010) and had previously proven themselves in terms of quality criteria. The main scales are: • Vocational identity (α(627)=.770; k=6; example item: "I like to tell others what occupation I am learning.") • Autonomy (α(628)=.822; k=3; example item: " I can decide for myself how I proceed in my work.") • Meaningfulness of own work (α(628)=.822; k=3; example item: "The job I do is important to me.") • Job satisfaction (α(624)=.908; k=4; example item: "In general, I like working here.") There are highly significant correlations between vocational identity and job satisfaction (.668**), as well as with the meaningfulness of own work (.532**), but also between job satisfaction and the meaningfulness of own work (.484**). Furthermore, the results show that there are no significant differences between apprentices from the industrial-technical occupations (n=149) and apprentices in the healthcare sector (n=472) in terms of vocational identity and job satisfaction. However, apprentices in the industrial-technical occupations report that they have more autonomy in their daily work, while apprentices in the healthcare sector consider their work to be more meaningful than the comparison group. Over the entire apprenticeship duration, vocational identity (regardless of the branch) indicates a slight reduction over the three apprenticeship years. These results can also be compared to the Norwegian survey by Johannesen et al. (2019), such as the relationship between a strong vocational identity and a substantial interest in the further development of the own professional competence.

Aspects such as their own experience of autonomy and the impression that their own work is highly meaningful appear to be relevant for apprentices. There is also a connection between job satisfaction and vocational identity. Based on these empirical results and taking into account further scientific literature (like e.g. Rauner, 2017; Thole, 2021, 2023), recommended strategies will be presented on how teachers and instructors in schools and companies can promote vocational identity during apprenticeships. An important aspect of promotion is the creation of optimal learning and working environments in both learning locations. This includes recognition and appreciation of the apprentices' performance and their commitment, as well as opportunities for the development of skills and attitudes, and a variety of tasks and work activities (in the sense of the entire occupational range). The transfer of responsible work orders (ideally congruent with the apprentices' own interests), which are to be completed independently and on their own responsibility, should also be implemented. With regard to the school learning location, the importance of the teacher should be emphasized; they symbolize the occupation through their own vocational experience and the framing of the discourse in lessons. If they speak positively about the occupation and thus strengthen the reputation of the occupation, this supports the development of the vocational identity. Furthermore, school lessons can provide a meaningful accompaniment to the experiences from the company workplace through guided reflection exercises.

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