Belonging, Becoming and Being a Baker: The Role and Processes of Apprenticeship

Abstract

The journey traversed by young people from being school-leavers to becoming qualified trade workers is a common, but far from fully understood process. Moreover, recent socio-historical changes exemplified by increased use of technology, the altering nature of work, and shifting patterns in the employment market are influencing both the apprenticeship journey and its destination. Central to this journey is how apprentices learn their skills and form identities as trades workers. Hence, there is a need to undertake detailed study of apprenticeship, as it is being currently enacted. In this dissertation, a contemporary account of apprenticeship is provided through mapping the experiences of 13 apprentice bakers and accounts of their bakeries. The dissertation proposes the apprentice journey as comprised of three phases—belonging to a workplace, becoming a baker, and being a baker—as descriptive metaphors of apprenticeship processes’ contribution to occupational identity formation processes. In this way, the dissertation conceptualises and illuminates aspects of apprentices’ indenture, including the role and influences of personal and situational factors that together shape how (a) young people begin participation in a trade-based occupation through processes of belonging to a workplace, (b) they identify with their occupation through a process of engagement with bakery work and practices, and (c) they commence the process of developing an occupational identity as bakers.