Analyse du travail et élaboration des programmes de formation profissionelle [Analysis of work and the development of vocational training programs]

Abstract

This article seeks to identify the major stages in the history of vocational training and their connection with work analysis. Two hypotheses related to the economic, social and political characteristics of each of these stages provide the point of departure. The first hypothesis, drawing on the analysis of Karl Polanyi, posits a "double movement" in the history of industrialized countries between those who respect market laws and see human labour as "human capital" and those who believe that market mechanisms interfere with the protection of vital social interests. The second hypothesis is inspired by the "regulationist" school of economists. They argue that economic history since the 19 th century has been characterized by particular "institutional forms" that ensure, for some time at least, a steady growth while molding individual and collective behaviour. According to this approach, three different wage-ratio models and the corresponding modes of regulation have marked the evolution of the workplace until the end of the 20 th century: the competitive regulation mode; the Taylorian wage-ratio, which imposed a reinforcement of the technical and social division of work; and the phase of mass production and consumption, which entailed the application of Fordist principles. For the regulationists, the "crisis" in the Fordist mode of regulation at the end of the 20 th century has led to a search for new models of production that require different skills from production workers. This context of the competitive reorganization of production and its effects on the organization of work have led to the re-configuration of the links between work analysis and vocational training. However, in order to better understand the emerging research trends and work interventions in recent years, it is worth examining prevailing social and scientific practices during the periods corresponding to each of the previous modes of regulation This article therefore focuses on a few key periods in the history of vocational training: that of the competitive regulation mode during which the problem of moralizing manpower was of prime importance; the period of Taylorism for which scientific work organization freed the enterprise from training most workers as qualification was restricted to the top tier of the labour force; the period in between the wars when vocational training was primarily concerned with workers' relational integration into the firm; and the glorious Fordist years during which time there was a clear distinction between working time and rapid learning on the one hand, and time off work and access to education on the other. This latter period is still traversed by conflicts and contradictions that have lent support to a critical conception of the training process and sparked alternative research on society as a whole. This crisis in the Fordist mode of regulation has contributed to the development of research with special links to ergonomics. A synthesis of published work enables us to determine to what degree some of the earlier traditions were extended, enriched or even out-dated. We delineate three approaches in current research. The first has its roots in a tradition of the educational sciences. It advances a "professional didactic" for which professional activity is never a simple application of a theoretical framework, but ever a very special fit of "pragmatic concepts". The second approach emphasizes interventions that seek to ensure the physical and psychological integrity of the worker. It draws on another conception of the construction of