Learning attitudes and emotions to work: vocational training in the area of aesthetics

MILLENAAR, VERÓNICA

Congreso; 36rd Labour Process Conference; 2018

This study come up with the main objective to analyse and discuss the role of vocational training in the area of the aesthetic sector, as a key component in the deployment of the labour force, that reinforces and develops learnings in line with demands of the workplace, at the same time it reproduces social and gender inequalities. In recent years, Argentina has carried out a restructuring process where professional profiles in part of the service sector where discussed and agreed between Trade Unions, business sector and the State. This process has evidenced an effort to make major adjustments between educational proposals and the demands for different skills of the labour market, which leaded to propose technical and codified knowledge within the curriculum content, as well as a large set of ?soft skills?, oriented to develop certain intangible knowledge, attitudes and emotions that are required at the workplace. In this sense, this study aims at seeking the way in which curriculum design, within vocational training, incorporates in its educational proposal a set of dispositions to develop a particular sensibility and the capacity for emotional labour. These learnings are considered a key to facilitate deployment among vulnerable young people. At the same time, this study discuss that such predispositions are also a labour disciplining strategy that guarantee the acceptance of flexibilization and informality labour conditions among workers, in a strongly gender-stereotyped occupation.This article therefore represents a contribution to understanding the process of learning in VT, by offering a comparison of three different vocational courses (Professional make-up, hair dressing and body treatments). All those courses integrate the big area of aesthetics, with a considerable enlargement of its enrolment rate during the last decade. The aesthetic area has expanded considerably, meaning a sector with high labour demand. This research is based on a qualitative field work carried out in Ciudad de Buenos Aires, with in-depth insights into teaching and learning in three VT selected institutions. During year 2017, 7 In-depth interviews were carried out with Heads and teachers, and focus groups were organized with 38 male and female students at the three VT institutions. In addition, in-depth interviews were also made with employers of the aesthetic sector, and with state officials and policy-makers within Technical and Vocational Education and Training government areas. The study is part of the Youth, Education and Work Research Programme at CIS/IDES-CONICET.