YOUTH AND EDUCATION: CONCEPTUAL ARTICULATIONS AND EMPIRICAL APPROACHES TO THE CHALLENGES FACED BY YOUTH IN PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL IN RIO DE JANEIRO STATE

Abstract

This article discusses the relationships between youth and education, focusing on the challenges faced by public high school students in the Serrana Fluminense Region (RJ). The main objective is to analyze how educational policies, particularly the New High School, interact with young people's life trajectories, producing processes of social disaffiliation and school dropout. We adopted a quali-quantitative methodology, combining an in-depth bibliographic review, focus groups with 191 participants, surveys applied to 240 students, participant observation, and the photovoice technique to capture young people's perspectives. Preliminary results reveal the diversity of youth trajectories, strongly influenced by factors such as hybrid sociabilities that combine urban and rural experiences, and life projects that indicate a significant disconnection between the school curriculum and youth future expectations. The contribution of this study lies in analyzing, from a mixed perspective, the characteristics of the educational and social experiences of youth from three municipalities in the Serrana Fluminense Region, namely Areal, Petrópolis, and Teresópolis, providing subsidies for the formulation of more effective public policies.