Professional education in Brazil – expansion for whom?

Abstract

The aim of this text is to reflect about the expansion of the Federal Network of technical schools that has been happening since 2007. The recent trajectory of Vocational Education in Brazil is compared with the evidences of results of the Vocational Education systems traditionally cited as reference for the debate on models of this educational modality. There is the tentative to demonstrate that the creation of the Federal Institutes converged more in the reproduction of the model of the University in producing intellectual assets than in improving the socioeconomic development from economic assets. Thus, the study is supported by the methodology of comparative studies and international research data. Finally, there are no indications in this reflection that show significant changes in the possibilities of vocational training of Brazilians, to a large extent caused by the so-called verticalization, which stimulated the offer of higher education courses instead of technical and vocational training courses.