De par son histoire, la formation professionnelle en suisse se retrouve face à des finalités contradictoires : “d’une part, la volonté politique de promouvoir la formation et la spécialisation individuelle et, d’autre part, le besoin des entreprises de disposer d’une main-d’œuvre peu qualifiée” (Bonoli, 2016, p.31). Dans une étude comparative, Hadjar et al. (2021) ont démontré que des élèves du secondaire en suisse étaient moins nombreuxses à aspirer obtenir un diplôme tertiaire que leurs condisciples du Luxembourg, ce qui semble attester de l’impact du contexte et du système sur les aspirations. Par souci de réduction des inégalités sociales, le système suisse est aujourd’hui caractérisé par l’existence de nombreuses passerelles qui semblent garantir une égalité d’accès aux formations supérieures, quel que soit son premier diplôme. Dans ce contexte de promotion de la mobilité, comment les jeunes appréhendent-iels leur avenir professionnel ? Leurs aspirations reflètent-elles les tensions entre finalités économiques et finalités sociales de l’apprentissage ?

En mobilisant des données secondaires d’un projet FNS portant sur les discriminations durant les parcours de formation professionnelle, cette communication proposera un état des lieux des aspirations professionnelles d’une cohorte d’apprenti·es de six centres de formation du canton de Genève, interrogé·es à trois reprises entre 2020 et 2022. La question ouverte était la suivante : « Nous aimerions savoir à présent quel métier vous espérez exercer dans 10 ans (merci d'écrire le métier en toutes lettres). »

Les réponses ont été codées manuellement selon plusieurs dimensions telles que la cohérence avec la formation en cours, la nécessité de poursuivre des études pour y parvenir, ou encore l’incertitude. L’objectif était que ces dimensions permettent d’appréhender le sens derrière le “choix” de la formation en cours : est-elle un prérequis à leurs aspirations ? Par ailleurs, ce codage inductif permet de rendre compte de l’unicité de certaines réponses, qui auraient été difficiles à classer en se basant sur l’échelle de prestige des professions en Suisse (Joye et al., 2023). Selon celle-ci, le métier de concierge est socialement perçu comme peu prestigieux, que faire dès lors d’une réponse telle que : conciergerie de luxe ? De plus, les activités telles que youtuber ou influenceuse sont absentes des échelles standardisées.

Les premiers résultats descriptifs montrent notamment qu’en troisième année de formation (N=755), moins d’un tiers (29%) des interrogé·es aspirent à exercer exactement le métier qu’iels sont en train d’apprendre. Iels sont 19% à aspirer à une activité dans le même domaine mais qui nécessitera des études supplémentaires et 9% écrivent explicitement ne pas savoir : aucune idée / je ne sais pas / encore flou / on verra bien ou la vie me mène. On retrouve aussi 13% d’aspirations à des activités pour lesquelles il est difficile de définir le parcours-type ou les diplômes nécessaires : Athlète professionnel / chanteur / de la télé / Dans la politique / humouriste / explorateur / investisseur / businesswoman. Les aspirations semblent aussi refléter l’évolution du marché du travail et l’injonction à l’autonomie (Appay, 2012 ; Zimmerman, 2017) avec un peu plus de 4% d’aspirations à l’auto-entreprenariat ou l’indépendance : chef d'entreprise de banque à mon compte / auto entrepreneur / être mon propre patron.

Afin de mieux cerner les enjeux autour du “choix vocationnel”, ce détour par les aspirations est une occasion de mettre en lumière le point de vue des jeunes au fil de leurs parcours de formation professionnelle. En conclusion, il s’agira de questionner les discours et les initiatives visant à revaloriser cette voie, au prisme de la “labilité” des aspirations des jeunes.

Vocational choice is a complex process influenced by individual, social, and economic factors, which, among other things, contribute to shaping personal perceptions of what constitutes decent work. While several studies have addressed the definition of decent work in different countries, focusing primarily on adult workers (e.g., Buyukgoze-Kavas & Autin, 2019; Masdonati et al., 2019; Ribeiro et al., 2019; Rossier & Ouedraogo, 2021; Vignoli et al., 2020; Zambelli et al., 2022), as well as adolescent populations (Zammitti et al., 2021) and individuals experiencing social vulnerabilities (Magnano et al., 2021), to our knowledge, no studies have explored how young adults in vocational and professional education and training (VET/PET) define decent work and which factors influence this definition. To fill this gap, the present study examines representations of decent work and the socio-demographic and psychological factors shaping these representations among students in Southern Switzerland (Ticino Canton) who already hold a secondary II diploma and are currently enrolled in a University of Applied Sciences (UAS), a Professional Education Institution (PEI), or a program to obtain the Federal Vocational Baccalaureate (FVB2).

Data were collected in May 2021 by a team of trained personnel through questionnaires administered to first-year students enrolled in one of the aforementioned educational programs. A total of 770 students responded to an open-ended question requesting them to define decent work. In addition, sociodemographic data (age, gender, current level of education, attendance mode, and parental occupation) were collected, along with information on satisfaction with education, highest educational expectations, psychological factors (optimism, hope, life satisfaction), and work experience. An interactive process of deductive qualitative analysis was employed to code responses regarding representations of decent work into 14 dichotomous variables. These variables were also used to construct an indicator of the complexity of the provided definitions, distinguishing four levels: basic, simple, complex, and very complex. Statistical analyses (point biserial correlation, phi coefficient, Kendall’s Tau-b, Cramer’s V, and ANOVA) were conducted to measure the degree of association between these variables and the derived complexity indicator with students’ sociodemographic, psychological, educational, and work-related characteristics.

The results largely confirm the conceptualization proposed by the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT) (Duffy et al., 2016), which defines decent work as characterized by safe physical and interpersonal working conditions, working hours that allow for work-life balance, organisational values consistent with social and family values, appropriate compensation, and access to adequate insurance coverage. However, additional elements emerge, suggesting the possibility of expanding this definition based on the Swiss context and the specific experiences of VET/PET students. The quantitative analysis reveals that certain individual characteristics such as age, gender, educational program attended, psychological traits, and previous work experience, are related to the specific aspects of the definitions provided by students. Moreover, results show that 32% of respondents had only a basic understanding of the concept, mainly based on salary conditions. More complex representations were found in students with higher SES and in those enrolled in UAS and in those preparing to enter it (FVB2). Given the relationship between the representation of decent work, individuals' career aspirations and future actions to ensure universal access to such decent conditions, educational institutions are considered to play a pivotal role in fostering initiatives that promote a more accurate and aspirational portrayal of desirable working conditions. This, in turn, would contribute to enhancing dignity in the workplace for all.

German VET is heterogeneous, for example in terms of access (Protsch/Solga 2016) and cognitive demands (Friedrich et al. 2023). Occupations with higher cognitive requirements should offer more opportunities to acquire additional and more transferable skills, leading to rewards on the labour market (Meyer/Sacchi 2020). Access to these occupations is strongly linked to school-leaving certificates (Friedrich et al. under review). Young people with no more than a lower secondary school-leaving certificate rarely start their training in a more cognitively demanding occupation (ibid). However, it remains unclear whether young people with no more than a lower secondary school-leaving certificate are more likely to fail due to firm and institutional barriers, or whether they do not aspire to more cognitively demanding occupations from the start. We investigate who aspires to occupations with higher cognitive requirements and which individual characteristics are associated with these aspirations. For the first time, we thereby consider cognitive requirements as a separate dimension of occupational aspirations.

Our theoretical framework is based on the Expectancy-Value Model (Eccles/Wigfield 2002). The core of this model are the subjective expectancy of success attributed to an educational option and its subjective task value consisting of four elements.: Following, (1) the interest-enjoyment value (interest and enjoyment of the activity) and (2) the attainment value (relevance for affirming one's identity), we argue good academic performance and motivation to learn should go hand in hand with the need to experience competence and to enjoy cognitive activities (Deci/Ryan 1985; Cacioppo et al. 1996). Concerning the (3) utility value (usefulness for one's goals) and (4) relative costs (costs for, e.g., effort required, fear of failure, and opportunity costs) we expect that the low transition rates of students with lower secondary education (Friedrich et al., under review) might lead them to lower their aspirations to avoid excessive costs and still achieve the goal of completing an apprenticeship. Further, we assume that young people's willingness to take risks and learning stress should be related to how they assess their costs in terms of effort and possible failure in relation to training in a particular occupation.

We use starting cohort 3 of the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS Network 2024) to estimate linear probabilistic models (Wooldridge 2010) for young people who have ever expressed an interest in vocational education and training. Our dependent variable is the cognitive requirement level of the aspired training occupation. To disentangle aspirations already adapted to (expected) opportunities from genuine intrinsic aspirations, we estimate models both for realistically and idealistically aspired training occupations. For the cognitive requirement level, we use an indicator from the Vocational Psychological Service (BPS) of the Federal Employment Agency (Friedrich et al. 2023).

The preliminary results indicate that young people with better mathematics grades and those who perceive that attaining an intermediate school-leaving certificate would entail minimal learning stress are more likely to aspire to occupations with higher rather than lower cognitive requirements, although the latter only holds true for realistic aspirations. This might suggest that these people enjoy cognitive challenges and attribute relevance to them. Young people who pursue a lower secondary school leaving-certificate are less likely to aspire to occupations with higher rather than lower cognitive requirements, which could indicate that they anticipate their poorer chances and possible failure, even for their idealistic aspirations. For risk aversion and performance-related learning motivation we find no significant coefficients.

Particularly in times of skills shortages, it is socially relevant to find out how we can pave the way for all young people to enter cognitively demanding occupations. For this end we need to understand why young people are not planning to pursue these careers.

Introduction: Vocational training choices are not solely the result of individual decisions but are also shaped by motivational dynamics and institutional and social constraints. In demanding sectors such as health and social care, these motivations influence apprentices' professional engagement, impact their work-life balance, and ultimately increase their risk of burnout (Hakanen et al., 2008). This study explores the relationships between apprentices' motivations for choosing their training pathway, their professional engagement, and work-life tensions, drawing on Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Default motivation reflects a passive commitment often dictated by external constraints, autonomous motivation fosters intrinsic investment aligned with personal values, and controlled motivation is driven by external or internal pressure.

Method: A questionnaire was administered to 351 apprentices in the health and social care sector. Serial mediation models were used to examine how these types of motivation influence burnout through professional engagement and work-life tensions.

Results: A high level of default motivation, through a significant serial mediation effect (b = 0.02, 95% CI [0.01; 0.03]), is associated with lower professional engagement, which in turn heightens work-life tensions and exacerbates burnout. Similarly, a high level of autonomous motivation, through a significant serial mediation effect (b = -0.04, 95% CI [-0.07; -0.01]), is linked to greater professional engagement, which subsequently reduces work-life tensions and mitigates burnout. Finally, although a high level of controlled motivation initially fosters professional engagement, it also leads to a significant serial mediation effect (b = -0.03, 95% CI [-0.05; -0.02]), where increased engagement contributes to heightened work-life tensions, ultimately aggravating burnout.

Discussion: Each type of motivation distinctly influences apprentices' professional trajectories, revealing specific dynamics between individual aspirations and external constraints. Default motivation appears particularly detrimental, as it reduces professional engagement and amplifies work-life tensions, ultimately increasing burnout. This mechanism aligns with Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), which links poorly integrated extrinsic motivation to lower well-being, illustrating how externally driven career choices can compromise apprentices' overall balance. Conversely, autonomous motivation acts as a protective factor by fostering value-aligned engagement and reducing work-life tensions. These findings support prior research on the benefits of intrinsic motivation for well-being (Gagné & Deci, 2005) and highlight the importance of enabling apprentices to pursue career paths that resonate with their aspirations. Finally, controlled motivation presents a paradox: although it initially boosts professional engagement, this engagement often leads to heightened work-life tensions, increasing burnout. This effect can be explained by the coercive nature of controlled motivation, which drives overinvestment in work at the expense of personal resources needed to manage work-life conflicts effectively (Ryan & Deci, 2000; van Hooff et al., 2005).

These findings underscore the need to support apprentices' vocational choices by considering both their aspirations and the external constraints shaping their decisions (e.g., family expectations, access to training programs). Motivational dynamics play a crucial role in work-life balance and well-being, calling for targeted actions to prevent burnout. For default-motivated apprentices, enhancing the meaning of their work can help mitigate the negative impact of external pressures. For those driven by controlled motivation, fostering work-life boundary management and promoting detachment from work is essential. These results highlight the importance of integrating motivational factors into career guidance and vocational training policies.