Understandings of graduates from middle level technical courses in Minas Gerais about training and entering the job market

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the training and professional insertion in the job market graduates high school technical courses in the State of Minas Gerais based on their understandings. In the first phase of the research, an electronic, semi-structured questionnaire was applied, with 20 graduates from 5 different cities. In the second phase of the research, semi-structured interviews were carried out via video conference with 8 graduates from 3 different cities. Both graduates this research completed face-to-face courses at EPTNM in the state of Minas Gerais, between the years 2015 and 2019. The methodology used in this study is qualitative, exploratory in nature, based on bibliographical, documentary and statistical data research. To analyze the data obtained, content analysis was used. The research problem was: technical education – linked to statistical data from INEP and in conjunction with qualitative research that analyzes the training and insertion in the job market of high school technical graduates – can contribute to improving training technology and young people's access to the job market? The results discovered reveal that technical education, together with public policies that promote equity and integral emancipatory training, can enable future technical graduates to enter the job market. However, there are limitations that must be observed, one of which is that mid-level technical students, in their training process, can not only associate technical training with immediate employment, but, in the existing conditions, seek the opportunity for decent work, which often requires a higher level of education.

Key words: graduates; middle level technical professional education; technical graduation; insertion in the labor market.