Desenhando a EPT: introdução a conceitos chave para a Educação Profissional e Tecnológica

This research aimed to understand the social representations of teachers working in technical programs at a federal institution of Professional and Technological Education (EPT) in Minas Gerais regarding the concept of Professional and Technological Education itself. To this end, we sought to verify whether these representations align with or diverge from the theoretical and conceptual foundations intertwined with comprehensive/omnilateral human development. We identified the profiles of these teachers and their educational trajectories, ascertained when and where they discussed comprehensive/omnilateral human development, and assessed their knowledge of Brazilian educational duality. To provide a sound foundation for our intellectual construction, we sought theoretical support from the fundamental foundations of EPT and the Theory of Social Representations (TSR). As a methodological approach, we analyzed the phenomenon of social representations from a qualitative perspective, using Content Analysis (CA) techniques, gathering contributions from bibliographic research, and selected the sociocultural questionnaire and the Free Word Association Test (FWAT) as data-generating instruments. The responses gathered revealed representations that, for the most part, distanced themselves from the theoretical and conceptual foundations embedded in comprehensive/omnilateral human development, also revealing a significant influence of the restricted EPT model, which aims to prepare individuals for the job market. Based on the results of this applied research, we developed an educational product in the form of three video lessons that aim to contribute to the advancement of Vocational and Technological Education by explaining and disseminating its theoretical and conceptual foundations, which advocate comprehensive/omnilateral human development for all, combating the existing educational duality and its consequent social division.