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The author discusses three meanings of the term “engagement”: engagement as a value, engagement as a constraint and engagement as a beginning. Making a distinction between the two forms of the verb “train”, he stresses the existence of two intentionalities that pervade all established training: The intention of the decision-makers and designers of the training course/program and that of those who are invited to enroll in it. Considering engagement in training as one method of resolving identity tension, he analyzes the different ways in which adults engage in training when given a choice of various courses/programs to enroll in. He presents a typology of six forms of engagement in training which were arrived at empirically via the research. He concludes by drawing attention to the necessity of situating training within the framework of the institutional and personal projects from which it originates and to relativize the importance of the meaning that people attribute to their actions. Such meaning remains dependent on acts of recognition without which it risks being reduced, or worse yet, transformed into despair.