Escolhas e representações sociais no Ensino Médio Integrado: uma proposta de intervenção em orientação profissional

This research has as its object of study the Professional Guidance focused on the educational context and as objectives, on the one hand, to identify the social representations of high school youth regarding the choice of professions and, on the other hand, to propose an intervention in Professional Guidance to be used by public schools. In order to reach the objectives, an empirical research was carried out with students from the third years of high school at an institution of the Federal Network of Professional and Technological Education. This is an applied research, with a qualitative approach, descriptive and interpretive. As instruments for generating and collecting data, a questionnaire for surveying institutional information, a socioeconomic and cultural questionnaire and the Free Word Association Test (FWAT) were used. The research resulted in four categories that trigger social representations: Vocational Guidance at school as a facilitating instrument in the process of choosing a profession, the absence of Vocational Guidance as a hindering element in the process of choosing a profession, the meanings of choosing a profession and the world of work. From these categories emerged the following social representations of students regarding the choice of profession: the choice as a vocation, definitive, guarantee of happiness, independence and self-support, self-fulfillment, realization of a dream, among others. It was also identified that students sporadically experienced activities at school that prepared them for the process of choices and decision-making and considered them insufficient. Students recognize the school's guiding and preparatory role and highlight the need for the school to offer assistance in the Career Guidance process in a more continuous and systematic way, emphasizing reflections and guidance for the elaboration and construction of their life project and transition to the continuity of the training and/or entry into the world of work. Furthermore, it was found that young people face the process of choosing a profession as being very difficult, pressured, essential and important. Based on the social representations of students regarding the choice of professions, the educational product "Professional Guidance: learning to BE and CHOOSE" was generated, which is a manual for carrying out a Professional Guidance workshop aimed at psychologists, pedagogues, teachers, social workers and other education professionals in public schools, with a program proposed to high school students, with the purpose of learning and awareness regarding professional choice and the elaboration of life projects that meets their aspirations and desires.