Work, Training, and Professional Skills
Overview of the project
From a sociological perspective, the aim is to understand the dynamics of actors (individuals and groups) in the workplace and their interactions with the institutional, organizational, and human environment.
From an ergonomic perspective, we seek to contribute to the design of professional training programs based on the analysis of actual work activities, notably by creating simulation scenarios to develop an approach focused on learning through situations rather than merely acquiring knowledge.
To this end, the research area pursues three main objectives:
- The primary objective is to understand work by analyzing it both in terms of the task as prescribed—that is, what needs to be done—and in terms of the actual activity—that is, what workers actually do to fulfill the task. We start from the observation, drawn from extensive research in ergonomics, that there is a permanent and inevitable gap between the prescribed task and the actual activity, revealing the full complexity of work. Work activity, which can never be reduced to the application of instructions or pre-established rules, always goes beyond the task.
- The second objective is to understand learning and development in and through work by analyzing activities in vocational training (those of trainees and trainers) within various programs designed to closely mirror real-world work situations (on-the-job scenarios, practice analysis, simulations, video-based training, serious games, “innovative” scenarios, etc.). The aim is to determine how the knowledge and skills acquired in these vocational training settings serve as sources of inspiration, creativity, and new learning in real-world work situations. The conditions for professional development are studied, in particular, through the understanding of processes of mimetic immersion, reflexive inquiry, and cooperation. Professional development is understood in terms of becoming, processes, and the actor-environment-other relationship through the analysis of transformations in work and/or training activities. The results of these studies contribute to a technological program aimed at designing, validating, modifying, and enriching existing or new training environments.
- The third objective is to understand professional identities that are in the process of being formed (beginners), established, or evolving, by examining the intersecting discourses of the actors regarding their work, their lived experiences, the contexts in which they operate, and the underlying logic of these contexts (actor-system). To speak of professionalism is to consider both the acquisition and consolidation of the professional skills necessary for practicing the trade and the unique, partly shared, way of “being in the trade” that involves a strong sense of identity. In fact, this approach takes into account the dynamics of professional identities and the issues of recognition that contribute, both individually and within groups, to the meaning given to the action.
2020–2021 Schedule
This year, two projects are launching that are expected to result in two collective papers summarizing our discussions and work within the research area:
- Perceptions, customs, and practices of self-confrontation therapy
- The challenges of integrating heterogeneous data and the issue of cross-level analysis.
2.5-hour session – mornings from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and afternoons from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Session 1 on the afternoon of September 18, 2020
(room to be announced in early September)
1) Overview of the focus area and introductions by the participants
2) Seminar formats: in-person, remote (either fully or partially)
3) Understanding learning and development in and through work by analyzing vocational training activities: Collaborative participation in high-fidelity simulation among midwives: Hélène Bouchot on her dissertation; Valérie Courtin on the role of a trainer; Claudine Dos Santos with her dissertation co-advisors Frédéric Saujat and Serge Leblanc. Postponement of the session scheduled for June 19, 2020.
Session 2, October 9, 2020 (morning)
(room to be announced later)
Understanding established and evolving professional practices in construction: insights into an epistemological framework
- A lecture and discussion on the concept of “identity in action,” featuring guest speaker Isabelle Vinatier, Professor Emerita of Education at the University of Nantes.
Session 3, November 20, 2020 (afternoon)
(room to be announced later)
Understanding work and understanding learning and development in and through work
Understanding to transform and transforming to understand in the context of technological research: the case of F.Art.Eq. by Guillaume Azéma & Sylvie Perez. Postponement of the session scheduled for April 3, 2020
Adjustments to the content schedule for the two "available" sessions in 2021.
Session 4, December 11, 2020 (afternoon)
(room to be announced later)
Understanding the work
- Perceptions and practices regarding simple and cross-confrontational self-interviews among members of the research group.
- Presentation of an example of self-reflection by two researchers, Serge Leblanc and Aurélie Chesnais, on a mathematics teacher: Analysis of the experience from both a disciplinary perspective in mathematics education and an “activity”-based perspective. The session scheduled for May 29, 2020, has been postponed.
Session 5, January 15, 2021 (morning)
(room to be announced later)
Understanding the work
Seminar for recent PhD graduates and doctoral students:
1) Presentation of Mélanie Secheppet’s dissertation
2) Presentation of Anne-Marie Mottaz’s dissertation
3) Presentation of Alexandra Maurine’s thesis (pending)
Session 6, February 12, 2021 (afternoon)
(room to be announced later)
Session 7, March 12, 2021 (morning)
(room to be announced later)
Understanding established and evolving professional roles in the construction industry
- Multi-level research: what can be "held together"?
- Issues related to the integration of heterogeneous data and inter-level questions based on the socio-ethnographic findings of the F.Art.Eq. research project (training of equestrian artists) by Tizou Perez-Roux and Eric Maleyrot
Session 8, April 9, 2021 (afternoon)
(room to be announced later)
Understanding the work
Frédéric Torterat will illustrate and open up for discussion an approach to contemporary changes in the world of work by analyzing the discourses on the subject put forward by social actors and organizations (including institutions). The aim here is to stimulate reflection on the tension between individuation and socialization that accompanies the development of professionalism (in the fields of education, social work, and childcare).
Session 9, May 7, 2021 (morning)
(room to be announced later)
Understanding the work
Seminar for doctoral students:
1) Presentation of Delphine Rivier’s thesis (pending)
2) Presentation of Kannany Ag Hartata’s thesis (pending)
3) Presentation of Pierre Cieutat’s dissertation (pending)