STUDY OF SCHOOL DROPOUT IN INTEGRATED SECONDARY EDUCATION: STRUCTURAL DETERMINANTS AND CHALLENGES FOR STUDENT RETENTION IN PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATION

Abstract

This article analyzes school dropout in the Integrated High School of a federal institution of Professional and Technological Education located in southern Pará, Brazil. The qualitative and exploratory study was based on documentary analysis, literature review, and interviews with teachers, aiming to understand the structural determinants of dropout and its pedagogical and institutional implications. The teachers’ narratives reveal multiple factors associated with dropout, including socioeconomic inequalities, weaknesses in student support, and curricular disarticulation. The results indicate that the phenomenon transcends individual causes, reflecting contradictions within the educational model and challenges to the realization of the right to education. It concludes that student retention requires integrated policies of social assistance, democratic management, and pedagogical practices oriented toward comprehensive human development and the strengthening of the social role of public schools.