The formation of subjectivities in a female vocational school: analysis of a registration form

Abstract

This study analyzes a registration form filled out by girls applying for the Senador Ernesto Dornelles Women’s Vocational School (Porto Alegre/RS, 1940). Its archive contained 195 folders with documents from students who enrolled in the institution from 1946 to 1950, including registration forms. Made by the Psychotechnical and Educational Guidance Service of the Department of Education and Culture of Rio Grande do Sul, these files consisted of two parts: I) the family, which included information on family members’ economic, educational, and social conditions and respondents’ interest in their daughter’s profession and II) the student, inquiring about girls’ education, way of life, vocational tendencies, and general impressions. We use Foucault’s theoretical contributions on examination procedures in disciplinary institutions and their subjectivation effects. The analysis of these forms found some of the social expectations and possibilities open to the formation of young applicants’ professional subjectivities based on the formulated questions and the possible answers available for families and students.