VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN BRAZIL: HISTORY AND POLICIES OF FEDERAL INSTITUTES

This article analyzes the segments of the population benefited by vocational education throughout its history and, more recently and specifically, in the regular technical courses integrated to high school curriculum in the Brazilian Federal Institutes (IFs, in Portuguese). The study was based on a multimethod research on the early days of vocational education in Brazil, considering that, in the past, it has focused on underprivileged students, to tackle marginality and to facilitate their full entry into the labor market. However, this course has changed when selecting students to technical schools, and this dimension is approached by focusing on the particularities of education policies for IFs, as we note that the original priority/target students of these institutions are not included in the current policies, only partially fulfilling IFs purposes.