Futures of Education Seminar – January, 26th, 2024
organized on line by Aydin Bal & Michael Cole https://culturalpraxis.net/
Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont1
University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland)
Thank you so much for this invitation. I have been so excited at the prospect of participating in this roundtable … sharing utopias. I am very happy to be here. Thanks again to Michael, Aydin and all those who take care of the Cultural Praxis activities, website, lists and today’s reflection.
I choose to talk of a utopia that seems reachable in Switzerland within its ” zone of proximal development”: the dual system of vocational education. Itaddresses students who are over 15 years of age. Caveat: What I present here is a rough sketch of the present state of the Swiss dual system, which is much more complex than what I can describe in a few minutes. While presenting this reality, I will be pointing to elements that I find deserve respect, support, preservation, emphasis or strong improvements.
Why do I choose a Swiss reality? Well, by ethnocentrism, and because I have been conducting research for several years in this field (cf. Perret J.F. & Perret-Clermont A.N. (2011), Apprentice in a changing trade. Charlotte, N.C., USA: Information Age Publishing). Another reason is that the dual system of vocational education is unique toSwitzerland (as well as Germany and Austria) and it can be very thought-provoking for foreign observers.
This dual system of vocational education is far from being perfect, of course. Hence, it is constantly trying to adapt. Observing it, and looking at the ways in which it tries to react to the present societal changes and challenges, reveals the interdependency of numerous actors: young people (“apprentices”), teachers and educators, partners and supervisors in the trade, but also employers’ unions, trade unions, politicians, and actors of other parts of the educational system. This interdependency among many actors is at work in any – in every – school system but its visibility is probably greater here because, for the dual system to work, the parties have to communicate with each other and maintain this communication at all levels throughout the ongoing conflicts that arise and need to be managed. This conflict management at all levels is part of the game and probably a reason for its success.
In Switzerland, compulsory schooling ends around 15-16 years of age. But around 95% of the students continue to study beyond this age. They are divided into 2 main groups: vocational training (60% of the students) and academic education (30% of the students). As you can see, a majority of young people go into vocational education. Most of them receive this vocational education via “the dual system ” (not all of them: a minority attends full-time vocational schools that are very much inspired by the dual system because they have to follow similar rules and regulations in order to deliver the same diplomas). Students enter vocational education either immediately after middle school (or after a transition year), or after one or several years of high school.
Why is it called a dual system? Because the training happens in two very different places: in the firm in which the students (called apprentices) are employed approximately 3 to 4 days a week; and in the professional school that they attend 1 to 2 days a week.
In order to become an apprentice, an adolescent (though some adults also do apprenticeships) has to find an enterprise that will hire him or her with the status of apprentice. This requires the young person become informed about the existing trades and firms. In order to help them, the State service for professional and academic guidance organizes visits to enterprises, hospitals, nurseries, farms, etc., and also arranges short internships. It delivers information and guidance. It organizes, once a year, a sort of public fair in which the different trades present themselves: the different professions display some elements of their activity and instruments in the middle of the city, and apprentices display how they work with them. Futures apprentices also rely on their family and networks to get information or to be introduced to employers. When hired, the future apprentice has to sign a contract with the employer. This contract is also signed by the parents, as well as by the State. The latter registers the contracts and supervises the apprenticeships. The apprentice is then also enrolled in the vocational school.
Within the firm, the apprentice is assigned to a supervisor (“maître d’apprentissage”), the “apprenticeship master” (yes, it echoes the old medieval tradition of trusting the apprentice to a master in charge of passing on the trade). The contract has a tentative period of 3 months. From then on, the apprentice will be considered an employee and will receive a monthly salary: a small salary augmented each year. Its amount is fixed at the national level, for each trade, through negotiations among employers ‘unions, trade unions and the State. The apprenticeship will last 3 to 4 years either in the same firm or – even better – within 2 or 3 different firms. State inspectors visit the enterprise regularly to check on the work conditions. A counselor is at the disposal of the apprentice, the employer or the school in case of problems.
Most of the apprentices usually discover a world totally unfamiliar to them at the firm. They are helped by the supervisor, colleagues and other apprentices. It is usually quite a challenge for them. In the different trades, there is a tradition on how this initiation to the trade should be conducted. It is supported by State regulations that are negotiated regularly among the school, the employer’s union and the State in order to adapt to technical and societal changes. They spell out what should be the first activities, tasks and duties of the apprentice; and then what will come next. Each year of apprenticeship has its work program in order to make sure that apprentices have a gradual overview of the entire profession. During the last term, the apprentice is supposed to be able to work as a fully trained employee of the trade, capable of interacting with clients, of using the different types of machines, of reporting the work done, and of having knowledge of his or her responsibilities.
One thing that keeps surprising everybody and that has been observed for decades: one-third of the apprentices break their contract during the first 2 years! But importantly, this is not considered a failure nor a problem for the system. It is seen as an adaptive process. Many studies have documented this phenomenon, and studied the declared reasons for breaking a contract, among which are the following: the apprentice is unhappy with the atmosphere of his or her workplace and with the interpersonal relations (reason no 1!); or is unhappy with the supervisor; or is not sufficiently interested in the trade; or the work conditions are incompatible with the apprentice’s corporeal or psychological conditions; or the apprentice has become aware of other trades not known to her or to him before. The apprentice is then helped by the State service, the family and sometimes even the employer to find another firm to continue the apprenticeship or to start a new one in another profession. Of course, to some extent, enterprises try to be attractive to apprentices and to keep them. This adaptive process concerns both parties: enterprise and apprentice, especially right now in times of personnel shortages. Large and small enterprises need qualified personnel to stay in business and hence are ready to invest in training them. Owners of small firms need to be sure that they will be able to sell their enterprise when they retire – and this will happen only if they can find qualified tradespeople capable of managing it (and eventually, capable of getting a loan from the bank to acquire the enterprise).
In parallel, with this main involvement in the work place, the apprentices attend vocational school. They seem to enjoy the school as a place where they can meet peers. But they find themselves again in the typical school condition of any student:mostly sitting all day indoors listening to adults (teachers) who expect some discussion but mostly silence and memorization. Increasing efforts have been made by vocational schools to teach in a more active way and also to induce meta-reflection on the skills developed at work. Apprentices can be asked to report on their work in the firm, for example: an apprentice in landscaping can take pictures of his work pruning trees and send the photographs to the school platform in order to discuss the work at school.
National regulations (regularly negotiated with the employers’ unions, trade unions, politicians, and actors of other parts of the educational system) prescribe what schools should teach. Yet, to some extent, schools can interpret these regulations in their own way in order to cater to the needs of their apprentices and of their future employers, and also in order to follow the technical changes in the trade that occur much more rapidly than the changes in the regulations and official curricula.
Part of the school staff are former apprentices with lots of work experience and with some pedagogical training: they are in charge of discussing the work activity and explaining it. They are also supposed to enlarge the understanding of the apprentices and to introduce elements that are not met in the workplace, for instance as avant-garde technologies (if the school has managed to acquire them). Another part of the staff is made up of former academic students with pedagogical training. They can offer a greater understanding of the meaning of the work activities by bringing a historical perspective, discussing the future of the trade from the perspective of different disciplines, placing the trade within society at large and its evolution, discussing legal issues, and reflecting on philosophical and ethical issues. They are also in charge of foreign language teaching and of introductions to art and literature. Finally, besides administrators, other members of the staff include psychologists, nurses, social workers and educators.
Apprentices undergo different types of practical and theoretical examinations. Representatives of the employers (usually “apprenticeship masters”) are part of the evaluation process and attend the oral examinations. Apprentices have to present a master piece for their final examination.
Once their education is finished, apprentices receive a federal diploma (Federal Certificate of Capacities). They can then look for a job and enter the profession.
Once at work, they have possibilities for part-time further training within the trade, in particular in order to prepare for management responsibilities or for the supervision of apprentices or to access financial support from the State for certain parts of the professional activity.
Others choose to do a second apprenticeship in a related trade (for instance a farmer chooses to train as an agricultural machinery mechanic). This apprenticeship is shortened to 2 years.
Some choose to enter into a full-time technical school to prepare a 2-year technical diploma.
Others want further academic training in a higher education institution: an engineering school, a business school, a higher education nursing school, etc. They then prepare their entrance into these schools with an extra year in the vocational school. By adding 3 semesters to this preparation, they can also enter a university in any discipline.
Now, why have I chosen the dual system of professional education to sketch my utopia?
Well, firstly because it is notable that, except if they come from academic families who express distress at seeing their children moving away from the fast track to elite university, apprentices tend to be very proud of being apprentices. You can see it in their posture when you ask them what they are doing, they make clear that now they have an identity: ” I am a mechanic (or a baker, or a care assistant, a commercial employee, a horticulturist, etc.). Now I know who I am.” In fact, they are not yet a mechanic but they already feel part of this professional community, they identify with it. They feel part of society: they now have a position in society. And they tend to say “we” (the first-person collective pronoun) when they describe the professional activity. They sometimes verbalize that they are happy not to have gone to an academic high school. They sometimes talk of the last years of their former schooling as a waiting room before entering the “real world”.
A second notable feature is that this immersion, in what they call “real life”, gives meaning to what they learn. They often say that they have a goal: for instance, to become an electrician. They might even be more specific: “I want to become an electrician and find a job in the much-needed installation of solar panels”.
A third important feature is that rules and expectations from adults are backed up with reasons such as: safety of the machines; satisfaction of the clients; hygiene of the nursing procedures, etc. They also experience new relationships with adults who are not anymore a parent or a teacher (nor a policeman!). They are immersed in a diverse adult world and not confined, as they were in school, to their age group. Of course, this is something to be attentive to: the adult world might present them with life problems that they are not yet quite ready to hear about.
Fourthly, at this young age they are invited to gradually take responsibilities within the professional activity. For some of them, it is the first time that they are in charge of anything that has a social value. They learn to carry out the tasks by themselves; to be attentive; to take the necessary initiatives; they learn how to have their suggestions listened to. They have an impact.
Conclusion
I believe that these experiences are very important for adolescents and help them to feel part of their world and to question it. The vocational school provides them with formal knowledge, and they learn to make use of it to analyze their activities.
If they decide to study further in technical schools, engineering schools or universities or even just in further education courses, they know why.
Note:
- With thanks to Athena Sargent for the language revision. ↩︎