Promises and expectations between apprentices, trainees and their employers

This paper is based on a recent comprehensive NCVER study. This study highlighted the importance of the promises and expectations between apprentices and trainees, and their employers in Australia. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used to provide the perspectives of employers, trainees and apprentices at a national and/or high-level policy and practice level. The study found that apprentices, trainees and employers all make promises and have expectations when undertaking a new contract at the beginning of the 'cycle' of an apprenticeship or traineeship. This paper is based on three case studies from the broader research program and reports on a number of instances when the expectations and promises were different for apprentices and trainees and their employers, and provides possible explanations for these differences. In particular the paper explores the practices of 'communication and reinforcement' within traineeships and apprenticeships as these are critical to the fulfilment of the psychological contract and, by definition, critical to the retention of apprentices and trainees. These findings are then located within the broader theoretical framework of 'practice architectures' (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008).