Formulations of participation and nonparticipation in trainees narratives of school-to-work transitions

Abstract

In this article, I examine trainees' construction of vocational identities through formulations of participation and nonparticipation in the various systems that constitute the British vocational sector. Combining a discourse-analytic perspective on identity with insights from activity theory on the relations between learning, identity and participation in practice, I draw on Lave and Wenger's (1991) notion of communities of practice to describe the different settings and social networks in relation to which trainees' narratives construct more or less peripheral positions. My analysis compares two types of data: i. A corpus of promotional brochures, targeted at school-leavers, that feature edited 'trainee narratives' about their experience of vocational training schemes; ii. semi-structured interviews with South Wales school-leavers who have enrolled in training schemes about their experience of the school-to-work transition. Comparing modes of participation across various systems, I show that the brochure narratives construct successful vocational identities through self-direction and responsibility in relation to material practice, reciprocal social relationships, access to participation in the adult world, and outbound career trajectories. The interview accounts, on the other hand, construct more ambiguous and hybrid forms of participation that do not fully accommodate the entrepreneurial stances mapped out by the brochures and find an alternative site for negotiation in the training center itself.