Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-pnlb5 Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2025-10-30T16:37:14.576Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A new start? Negotiations of age and chrononormativity by older apprentices in England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2017

PAULINE LEONARD ,
ALISON FULLER  and
LORNA UNWIN
PAULINE LEONARD*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Southampton, UK.
ALISON FULLER
Affiliation:
University College London Institute of Education, UK.
LORNA UNWIN
Affiliation:
University College London Institute of Education, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Pauline Leonard, Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ UK E-mail: pleonard@soton.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The decision to start a new career might seem an unusual one to make in later life. However, England has seen a steady rise in numbers of workers undertaking an apprenticeship in their fifties and sixties, through a government-funded policy initiative opening up training to adults at all stages of the lifecourse. At the same time, in most Western contexts, the amalgamation of ‘older’ and ‘apprentice’ presents a challenge to normative understandings of the ‘right age’ to undertake vocational training. What is it like to make a new start as an older worker? This paper draws on new qualitative research conducted in England with older apprentices, exploring how they found the experience and management of training ‘out of step’. Inspired by Elizabeth Freeman's temporalities approach, our findings reveal how powerful norms of age-normativity routinely structure understandings, experiences and identities of older-age training for both organisations and apprentices. While these norms demand careful negotiation by both apprentices and trainers, if managed successfully older workers gain significant benefits from their training. These findings have resonance not only for England, but for other international contexts considering expanding vocational training into older age. The paper concludes that if adult training schemes are to succeed, some fundamental changes may need to be made to understandings of age and ageing within contemporary workplaces.

Keywords

Apprenticesage and ageingolder workersworktrainingtransitionsgendertemporality

Information

Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 38 , Issue 8 , August 2018 , pp. 1667 - 1692
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adam, B. 1995. Timewatch: The Social Analysis of Time. Polity, Oxford.Google Scholar
Age Positive 2015. Employing Older Workers: An Employer's Guide to Today's Multi- generational Workforce. HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Ainley, P. and Rainbird, H. (eds) 1999. Apprenticeship: Towards a New Paradigm of Learning. Kogan Page, London.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, S. and Cutcher, L. 2008. Staging value and older women workers: when ‘something more’ is too much. International Journal of Work Organization and Emotion, 2, 4, 334–57.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, S. and Hardy, C. 2008. The enterprising self: an unsuitable job for an older worker. Organization, 15, 3, 389–405.Google Scholar
Akkerman, S. and Bakker, A. 2012. Crossing boundaries between school and work during apprenticeships. Vocations and Learning, 5, 2, 153–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amin, K. 2015. Temporality. Transgender Studies Quarterly, 2, 4, 219–21.Google Scholar
Amis, J. and Silk, M. 2008. The philosophy and politics of quality in qualitative organizational research. Organizational Research Methods, 11, 3, 456–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkinson, W., Roberts, S. and Savage, M. 2012. Class Inequality in Austerity Britain: Power, Difference and Suffering. Palgrave, London.Google Scholar
Aubert, P., Caroli, E. and Roger, M. 2006. New technologies, organization and age: firm-level evidence. The Economic Journal, 116, 509, F73–93.Google Scholar
Baily, C. 2009. Reverse intergenerational learning: a missed opportunity? AI & Society, 23, 1, 111–5.Google Scholar
Barrett, A. 2005. Gendered experiences in mid-life: implications for age identity. Journal of Aging Studies, 19, 2, 163–83.Google Scholar
Baxter, J. 2003. Positioning Gender in Discourse. Palgrave, Basingstoke, UK.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biggs, S. 2004. Age, gender, narratives and masquerades. Journal of Aging Studies, 18, 1, 45–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blatterer, H. 2010. The Changing Semantics of Youth and Adulthood, Cultural Sociology, 4, 1, 63–69.Google Scholar
Boudiny, K. 2013. ‘Active ageing’: from empty rhetoric to effective policy tool. Ageing & Society, 33, 6, 1077–98.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. and Wacquant, L. 1992. An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Polity Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Bradley, H. and Van Hoof, J. 2005. Young People in Europe: Labour Markets and Citizenship. Polity Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Brooke, L. and Taylor, P. 2005. Older workers and employment: managing age relations. Ageing & Society, 25, 3, 415–29.Google Scholar
Chou, R. and Choi, N. 2011. Prevalence and correlates of perceived workplace discrimination among older workers in the United States of America. Ageing & Society, 31, 6, 1051–70.Google Scholar
Del Boca, D. and Locatelli, M. 2006. The Determinants of Motherhood and Work Status: A Survey. IZA Discussion Paper 2414, Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany. Available online at http://nbnresolving.de/urn:nbn:de:101:1-20090309147. Accessed 10/05/2016Google Scholar
Department for Education and Skills 2003. 21st Century Skills: Realising Our Potential. Cm.5810, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Felstead, A. 2010. The importance of ‘teaching old dogs new tricks’: training and learning opportunities for older workers. In Parry, E. and Tyson, S. (eds), Managing an Age Diverse Workforce. Palgrave, London.Google Scholar
Fereday, J. and Muir-Cochrane, E. 2006. Demonstrating rigor using thematic analysis: a hybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding and theme development. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5, 1, 80–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Field, J., Burke, R. J. and Cooper, C. L. (eds) 2013. The SAGE Handbook of Ageing, Work and Society. Sage, London.Google Scholar
Freeman, E. 2010. Time Binds: Queer Temporalities, Queer Histories. Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina.Google Scholar
Foucault, M. 1980. Power/Knowledge. Harvester Press, Brighton, UK.Google Scholar
Foucault, M. 1982. Afterword. The subject and power. In Dreyfus, H. and Rabinow, P. (eds), Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics. Harvester Press, Brighton, UK, 208–26.Google Scholar
Foweraker, B. and Cutcher, L. 2015. Work, age and other drugs: exploring the intersection of age and masculinity in a pharmaceutical organization. Gender, Work and Organization, 22, 5, 459–73.Google Scholar
Fuller, A., Heath, S. and Johnston, B. (eds) 2011. Rethinking Widening Participation in Higher Education: The Role of Social Networks. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Fuller, A., Leonard, P., Unwin, L. and Davey, G. 2015. Does Apprenticeship Work for Adults? The Experiences of Adult Apprentices in England. UCL, London.Google Scholar
Fuller, A. and Unwin, L. 2003. Creating a ‘Modern Apprenticeship’: a critique of the UK's multi-sector, social inclusion approach. Journal of Education and Work, 16, 1, 5–25.Google Scholar
Fuller, A. and Unwin, L. 2009. Change and continuity in apprenticeship: the resilience of a model of learning. Journal of Education and Work, 22, 5, 405–16.Google Scholar
Fuller, A. and Unwin, L. 2013. Contemporary Apprenticeship: International Perspectives on an Evolving Model of Learning. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Gerpott, F. H., Lehmann-Willenbrock, N. and Voelpel, S. C. 2016. A phase model of intergenerational learning in organizations. Academy of Management Learning & Education. Published online. April 20, 2016, doi: 10.5465/amle.2015.0185 ACAD MANAG LEARN EDU April 20, 2016 amle.2015.0185Google Scholar
Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. 2005. Contexts of Ageing: Class, Cohort and Community. Polity Press, Malden, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Gov.UK 2016. Apprenticeships Geography, Equality and Diversity and Sector Subject Area: Starts 2002/03 to 2015/16. Available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships [Accessed 6 October 2016].Google Scholar
Grant, L., Yeandle, S. and Buckner, L. 2006. Working below potential: women and part-time work: synthesis report. GELLM Series 2 Part 2, Centre for Social Inclusion, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK.Google Scholar
Gulette, M. M. 2004. Aged by Culture. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Halford, S. and Leonard, P. 2006. Negotiating Gendered Identities at Work: Place, Space and Time. Palgrave, Basingstoke, UK.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodges, J. 2012. The transition of midlife women from organizational into self-employment. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 27, 3, 186–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ibarra, H. and Barbalescu, R. 2010. Identity as narrative: prevalence, effectiveness, and consequences of narrative identity work in macro-work role transitions. Academy of Management Review, 35, 1, 135–54.Google Scholar
Karmel, T. 2006. Older Workers in Apprenticeships and Traineeships. National Centre for Vocational Educational Research, Adelaide, Australia.Google Scholar
Karpinska, K., Henkens, K. and Schippers, J. 2011. The recruitment of early retirees: a vignette study of the factors that affect managers’ decisions. Ageing & Society, 31, 4, 570–89.Google Scholar
Keep, E., Mayhew, K. and Payne, J. 2006. From skills revolution to productivity miracle: not as easy as it sounds? Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 22, 4, 539–59.Google Scholar
Leitch, S. 2006. Leitch Review of Skills. Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Lindebaum, D., Jordan, P. and Morris, L. 2015. Symmetrical and asymmetrical outcomes of leader anger expression: a qualitative study of army personnel. Human Relations., 69, 2, 277–300.Google Scholar
Lorreto, W. and White, P. 2006. Employers’ attitudes, practices and policies towards older workers. Human Resources Management Journal, 16, 3, 313–30.Google Scholar
Loretto, W., Vickerstaff, S. and White, P. 2007. The Future for Older Workers. Policy Press, Bristol, UK.Google Scholar
Lyon, P. and Glover, I. 1998. Divestment or investment? The contradictions of HRM in relation to older employees. Human Resource Management Journal, 8, 1, 56–66.Google Scholar
Martin, G., Dymock, D., Billett, S. and Johnson, G. 2014. In the name of meritocracy: managers’ perceptions of policies and practices for training older workers. Ageing & Society, 34, 6, 992–1018.Google Scholar
McNair, S., Maltby, T. and Nettleship, S. 2007. Age Training and Employment: A Review of the Literature. Centre for Research into the Older Workforce, NIACE, Leicester, UK.Google Scholar
Moore, S. 2009. ‘No matter what I did I would still end up in the same position: age as a factor defining older women's experience of labour market participation. Work, Employment and Society, 23, 4, 655–71.Google Scholar
Moulaert, T. and Biggs, S. 2012. International and European policy on work and retirement: reinventing critical perspectives on active ageing and mature subjectivity. Human Relations, 66, 1, 23–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ng, T. W. H. and Feldman, D. C. 2012. Evaluating six common stereotypes about older workers with meta-analytical data. Personnel Psychology, 65, 4, 821–58.Google Scholar
Odih, P. 1999. Gendered time in the age of deconstruction. Time and Society, 8, 1, 9–38.Google Scholar
Ogińska-Bulik, N. 2006. Occupational stress and its consequences in healthcare professionals. International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, 19, 2, 113–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2013. Skilled for Life? Key Findings from the Survey of Adult Skills. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris.Google Scholar
Pietilä, I. and Ojala, H. 2011. Acting age in the context of health: middle-aged working class men talking about bodies and aging. Journal of Aging Studies, 25, 4, 380–9.Google Scholar
Radl, J. 2012. Too old to work, or too young to retire? The pervasiveness of age norms in Western Europe. Work, Employment and Society, 26, 5, 755–71.Google Scholar
Ranzijn, R. 2010. Another way to oppress marginalized and disadvantaged elders? Journal of Health Psychology, 15, 5, 716–23.Google Scholar
Rauner, F. and Smith, E. (eds) 2009. Rediscovering Apprenticeships. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Riach, K. and Cutcher, L. 2014. Built to last: ageing, class and the masculine body in a UK hedge fund. Work, Employment and Society, 28, 5, 771–87.Google Scholar
Riach, K. and Kelly, S. 2015. The need for fresh blood: understanding organizational age inequality through a vampiric lens. Organization, 22, 3, 287–305.Google Scholar
Riach, K., Rumens, N. and Tyler, M. 2014. Un/doing chrononormativity: negotiating ageing, gender and sexuality in organizational life. Organization Studies, 35, 11, 1677–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ropes, D. 2013. Intergenerational learning in organizations. European Journal of Training and Development, 37, 8, 713–27.Google Scholar
Ropes, D. and Ypsilanti, A. 2012. Factors influencing intergenerational learning: towards a framework for organisations to ensure successful learning in older employees. In European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (ed.), Working and Aging. The Benefits of Investing in an Aging Workforce. European Union, Luxembourg, 280–307.Google Scholar
Rudman, D. 2006. Shaping the active, autonomous and responsible modern retiree: an analysis of discursive technologies and their links with neo-liberal political rationality. Ageing & Society, 26, 2, 181–201.Google Scholar
Sennett, R. 2006. The Culture of New Capitalism. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Skeggs, B. 2011. Imagining personhood differently: person value and autonomist working class value practices. Sociological Review, 59, 3, 496–513.Google Scholar
Skills Funding Agency/Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 2016. Further Education and Skills, Statistical First Release SFA/SFR 33. Available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/513851/SFR_commentary_March_2016_QAR_Update.pdf.Google Scholar
Simpson, M., Richardson, M. and Zorn, T. 2012. A job, a dream or a trap? Multiple meanings for encore careers. Work, Employment and Society, 26, 3, 429–46.Google Scholar
Standing, G. 2011. The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class. Bloomsbury, London.Google Scholar
Tempest, S. 2003. Intergenerational learning. A reciprocal knowledge development process that challenges the language of learning. Management Learning, 34, 2, 181–200.Google Scholar
Thomas, R., Hardy, C., Cutcher, L. and Ainsworth, S. 2014. What's age got to do with it? The critical analysis of age and organizations. Organization Studies, 35, 11, 1569–84.Google Scholar
Tretheway, A. 2001. Reproducing and resisting the master narrative of decline: midlife professional women's experiences of aging. Management Communication Quarterly, 15, 2, 183–226.Google Scholar
Unwin, L., Davey, G., Fuller, A. and Leonard, P. 2015. Supporting an ageing workforce: implications for working life, training and skills policy in England – a literature review. LLAKES Research Paper 51, UCL Institute of Education, London.Google Scholar
Vickerstaff, S. 2010. Older workers: the ‘unavoidable obligation’ of extending our working lives? Sociology Compass, 4, 10, 869–79.Google Scholar
Walker, A. and Maltby, T. 2012. Active ageing: a strategic policy solution to demographic ageing in the European Union. International Journal of Social Welfare, 21, 1, 117–30.Google Scholar
World Health Organization 2002. Active Ageing: A Policy Framework. World Health Organization, Geneva.Google Scholar
Yerkes, M. 2010. Diversity in work: the heterogeneity of women's employment patterns. Gender, Work and Organization, 17, 6, 696–720.Google Scholar
Zanoni, P. 2011. Diversity in the lean automobile factory: doing class through gender, disability and age. Organization, 18, 1, 105–27.Google Scholar