Historical process of Professional and Technological Education in Brazil:

from the origins of Professional Education to the creation of Federal Institutes

Abstract

Professional and technological education in Brazil has undergone significant transformations throughout its history, according to the political perspective of each government term. The purpose of this article is to present the historical context of professional education in Brazil in its origins, as well as its development and consequences that culminated in the policy of creating the Federal Institutes of Education, Science and Technology, instituted by law no. 11.892/2008. The topic is presented in three strands: the history of professional education in Brazil; the creation of the Federal Network for Professional and Technological Education; and, finally, the process of constituting the Federal Institutes of Education, Science and Technology within the totality of Brazilian professional and technological education, as a public policy. The methodological procedures used, predominantly qualitative, were documentary research and bibliographic analysis. This study showed that the history and memory of technological professional education in Brazil reveal that its constitution has passed through a complex and fragmented historical process. It was also found that its evidence was specific and less prevalent in the colonial and imperial period, having been incipiently instituted in that period. In 1909 it was consolidated as a federal network of professional and technological education, and only at the beginning of the 21st century was there, in fact, an expansion throughout the national territory as a public educational policy intended as a proposal for professional training.