Walking paths that lead to technical courses: between uncertainties and possibilities

Abstract

The article aims at discussing the results of a research which focus lies on the analysis of the links between the world of work and professional education, taking as subjects students and graduates of technical courses (subsequent courses) offered by one of the branches of the Federal system of professional and technological education. It is about the analysis of the narrative of young people inserted in professional education paths by focusing on the meaning assigned to education, to professional education, in the constitution of future projects; processes of choice, stay and abandonment of careers – initial expectations, value attributed to diplomas, impacts produced in the paths of professionalization/occupation –; the meanings of “being a technician” and how they manage to “have a job” in a scenario in which discontinuity and socio-professional uncertainty seem to articulate with the volatile equation: schooling, certification and insertion in social, cultural and professional networks.