Career construction in French apprenticeship programs: An exploration of the role of gender in the tutorship

• The quality of tutorship in apprenticeship programs is a determining factor in the intention to commit in an occupation.
• Male tutors promote career development in their tutorship.
• Female tutors tend to provide role modeling to trainees.
• In male-dominated professional sectors, young people feel that they are better supported by a male tutor than by a woman.
• In apprenticeship programs, tutors can be considered as full-fledged players in young people's vocational guidance.

In France, the private sector has increasingly over the last 20 years developed apprenticeship programs (Aeberhardt, Crusson, & Pommier, 2011) in Higher Education. One reason for this development is that young people who prepare for a diploma through apprenticeship programs achieve professional integration in the working world more quickly (Arrighi & Joseph, 2005). However, 17% of young people drop out before the end of their work contract, partly because they consider the work environment to be unsatisfactory or the work too difficult (Cart, ToutinTrelcat, & Henguelle, 2010). In the workplace, apprentices receive the guidance of a professional, the tutor. This research aims to analyze the role of tutor gender on apprentices' perception of their career and intention to quit or stay in the professional sector. The general hypothesis of the research is that tutors have a key role on the career construction of apprentices. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with apprentices in Higher Education on their relationships with their male or female tutor in the company. The findings underline the role of both tutors' and apprentices' gender and of the particular labor division in the workplace.