Time management during initial vocational education and training: the role of familial socialization
Research Framework: This contribution is based on an ongoing research project on the time management of youths doing an apprenticeship in Switzerland. It presents how the time management dispositions inherited from familial socialization affect the way apprentices face the changes they experience during training. Additionally, we also studied the impact of the professional socialization process on time management dispositions. Objectives : Two different hypotheses are explored. The first assumes that time management dispositions inherited from familial socialization influences the subject’s ability to organize time during their apprenticeship. The second posits that professional socialization transforms these dispositions. Methodology : We used mixed methods including a questionnaire survey (n =523) and 28 interviews with apprentices in two different types of training : mediamaticians and social care workers. Results : Apprentices manage their time differently depending on their social origins, their gender, their school career and their parents’ educational style. Furthermore, professional socialization has a limited influence on the apprentices’ time management dispositions. These dispositions are are strengthened rather than transformed, especially for the subjects who possessed strong time organization skills at the beginning of their apprenticeships. Conclusion : Time management dispositions inherited from primary socialization are quite stable. If any transformations appear, they mostly occur at the end of the apprenticeship. Contribution : This paper allows for a better understanding of time management dispositions inherited from family, improved identification of the challenges apprentices face at the beginning of their training and it provides additional knowledge about the time management of young people.