Abstract

This contribution reports on a study conducted as part of a research on early childhood educators’ vocational training in Geneva. We wish to better understand the interrelational positioning challenges that the students face during the activities in which they participate in the workplace. The multimodal analysis highlights the frequent shifts of the participants’ reciprocal positions in mentoring interactions, and shows the coexistence of two inverted asymmetrical relations in a form of “double-cross asymmetry”. In this context, the trainees’ positioning is vulnerable to the professional events that emerge in the course of interaction.