Social production of educational inequalities studied through the schooling trajectories of swiss apprentices

Dual apprenticeships are a major component of the Swiss educational system. However, this does not prevent the Swiss educational system from reproducing social inequalities as those revealed by Pierre Bourdieus’ analysis of the more school-based French system. We observe this social production of inequalities through in-depth interviews with Swiss apprentices in the French-speaking printing industry on an individual level. We also observe different complex social processes at work, which cannot be grasped by Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction alone. These ask for a systematic theoretical and empirical study of both the antagonism between school-based and VET education, and the role this antagonism plays in the educational career of pupils.