Abstract
This article looks at the effects of recent reforms to initial training in 'relationship professions' on the professional skills of trainers. As well as looking at the way in which prescriptions are applied at organisational level, the study focuses on the way in which trainers carry out a complex activity on a day-to-day basis, in touch with the reality of what is happening in the field, and how they deal with the new training conditions. The results are based on three qualitative surveys of trainers in the health, social work and education sectors. They show the extent to which changes in requirements are shaking up the individual, collective and institutional reference points of these trainers and changing the meaning of their mission. They highlight a range of factors that contribute to a blurring of professional identities.