Historically, vocational training followed a master-apprentice tradition whereapprentices besides from learning vocational tasks were socialised into a vocationalculture and identity. Nowadays, Swedish VET is primarily school-based, and instead of amaster, VET-teachers teach students their future vocation. Interview studies with VETteachershave revealed that they cross boundaries between an identity as a teacher andan identity related to the vocation he or she teaches. However, there is limited researchon how VET-teachers are positioned by their students and how, in turn, they positionthemselves in relation to the students in school-based VET. Such knowledge is essentialfor understanding vocational identity in contemporary VET. This study aims to explorehow vocational teachers' positioning is negotiated in VET, focusing on interactionsbetween students and vocational teachers. Drawing on ethnographic material fromSwedish upper secondary school's hairdressing education, preliminary findings identifyseven subject positions: the VET-teacher as: a friend; a colleague; a teacher; a boss; arole model; a mother; a personal hairdresser.