THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND YOUTH AGENCY IN TECHNICAL SCHOOLS

Abstract

The expansion of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Brazil brings back to the fore how technical schools can articulate specific training with the development of social, ethical, and political capacities, in order to foster youth agency understood as the possibility for young people to lead life projects, take part in decision-making, and intervene in their communities on the basis of technical-scientific knowledge and public commitment; grounded in the works of Freire, Vygotsky, Saviani, Frigotto, Kuenzer, Ramos, Ciavatta, Dayrell, Carrano, and Melucci, and in dialogue with Brazil’s LDB and the TVET DCNs, as well as with UNESCO and OECD international guidance, the article argues that agency does not arise automatically from technical curricula but emerges from integrated pedagogical ecosystems featuring inquiry practices, student participation, formative assessment, school–work alternation, and democratic governance, attentive to diversity and equity; the text also proposes a set of curricular and institutional strategies, highlights tensions and enabling conditions, and contends that the integration among science, culture, technology, and work—when guided by public values—turns technical education into a platform for active citizenship and social innovation (FREIRE, 2011; VYGOTSKY, 2007; SAVIANI, 2007; RAMOS, 2008; CIAVATTA, 2005; DAYRELL, 2007; CARRANO; MARTINS, 2011; MELUCCI, 2004; BRASIL, 1996; BRASIL, 2012; MAROPE; CHAKROUN; HOLMES, 2015; OECD, 2010).