O ensino vocacional paulista no Colégio Stella Maris (1968-1969)

Abstract

The text presents a study that investigates the vocational perspective of Stella Maris School, a private, all-girls, and Catholic school located in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil. It examines the context of vocational education experiences in Brazil, particularly in the State of São Paulo during the 1960s, based on the concept of personalism by Emmanuel Mounier (1937), influenced by French and Spanish authors, which inspired the vocational education in São Paulo's public and private schools in the 1960s, contributing to the understanding of a politically difficult period for the country. The research, of qualitative nature, utilizes documentary sources and focuses on the final years of secondary education at that time (now called high school), specifically the period from 1968 to 1969. Besides personalism, the theoretical foundation of vocational education is rooted in Pierre Faure's Pedagogy (1972) with contributions from the French New Pedagogy of a secular/atheistic nature. The central concepts of the analysis are anchored in the school culture, as proposed by Escolano Benito (2017), to comprehend the empirical, political, and academic cultures, which respectively encompass the context, norms, laws, thoughts, and formation of the individuals involved. The research examines the pedagogical choices of the studied school regarding the brief and successful experience of public vocational education in São Paulo, which emerged amidst the contradictions of the civil-military dictatorship (1964-1985). The results indicate that the investigated school developed its own culture by adopting São Paulo's vocational pedagogy, while public vocational education faced pressures that led to its extinction due to incompatibility and the threat it posed to the imperatives of the authoritarian political scenario of that time. In summary, the research provides a contribution to the understanding of an important historical and political period of Brazilian education. This type of research is significant as it allows for a better understanding of the history and dynamics of schools and can help identify potential issues or opportunities for improvement in the educational system.