"Learning" liminality: the case of a voucher-type VET program in Tourism

This paper addresses the issue of liminality in the making, as manifest by traineeships in the Greek tourism sector. We investigate the experiences of young trainees in tourism-related enterprises operating in a post-crisis economic context. Our primary focus is on the impact that the training program under scrutiny had on the trainees’ perceptions of work, occupation and careers in the tourism sector, i.e., the “heavy industry of the Greek economy”. Instead of identifying with and enriching their career prospects, our findings suggest that the trainees learned to live in an in-between and transient state for long periods of time as they prepare themselves for navigating a de-regulated labour market. The concept of liminality aptly describes this existential-transient condition that pertains to both the “between-and-betwixt” position of the young trainees and the identity of multi-tasking service employees.