Lifelong learning to labour: apprenticeship, masculinity and communities of practice

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of gender identity within the context of lifelong learning. Constructed specifically around individual experiences of occupational apprenticeship in English professional football, it draws on a re‐reading of data collected in the early 1990s to depict the way in which a group of young men were socialised into their new‐found occupational culture and how their identities were shaped by the heavily gendered routines of workplace practice. Framing apprenticeship as a holistic ‘learning’ experience, the article looks at how the legitimate peripheral participation of trainees in an established community of practice facilitated their adaptation to and assimilation of various skills, procedures and institutional norms via informal learning processes. Set against the historical development of apprenticeship in England, the article uses qualitative research findings to determine the extent to which apprenticeship within professional sport might facilitate the reproduction of stereotypical gender norms and values.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Christina Hughes and two anonymous referees for their comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Notes

1. In order to preserve anonymity, pseudonyms are used throughout the article. The original research for this project was carried out with the financial support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC award no. R00429234246).

2. In recent years apprenticeship within English professional football has experienced a period of modification and transition which in 1998 witnessed the replacement of the previously established two‐year TV model with a three‐year professional ‘football scholarship’ programme based on a Modern Apprenticeship framework. This sholarship was not recognised or accredited under the UK government's official MA structure. During the 2005/06 football season a two‐year traning model was reinstated under the guise of the Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (ASE). Once the sole responsibility of the Footballers Further Education and Vocational Training Society (FFE & VTS), educational and vocational training for apprentice footballers at Football League clubs (i.e. non‐FA Premier League clubs) is now overseen by League Football Education (LFE). Equivalent educational provision is made at FA Premier League clubs via Premier League Learning.