Tecnologia social na educação profissional e tecnológica : perspectivas da formação do curso técnico integrado em informática do IFRN - Campus Mossoró

Abstract

The social function of educational institutions has been historically restricted to produce labor force in order to supply the job market and keep the social policy of ruling classes. This logic has found broad space at professional and technological education but in the new scenario of Rede Federal de Educação Profissional, Científica e Tecnológica, the Institutos Federais, emerged as the possibility of breaking with the previous model. So they bring to the local society the focus of their area of educational interest. As the result, the social function provides solutions to social problems. In this context, the Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN) intends to provide students with a professional and technological education articulated with science, culture, word and technology. In this articulation, we understand that the way how the technology is understood and as it is worked at Ensino Médio Integrado is crucial to achieve a model of transformative education, since the kinds of technologies can serve different interests. Among those interests we find social technology that aims to act in solving social problems. This technology is developed from the interaction between the local community and the school that must ensure the students the necessary training to do so. In this sense it, is possible to see that the principles of social technology are consistent with the social function of IFRN. Therefore, this dissertation aims to analyze the training of students at Curso Técnico Integrado em Informática as an improvement of the social function of IFRN - Campus Mossoró through social technology. In order to achieve these objectives, we have interacted with the authors who discuss the relationship between education and social changes; we have also analyzed the social function and the conception of technology that support IFRN pedagogical project (Projeto Politico Pedagógico – PPP – IFRN) and tried to understand the proposal of the pedagogical project of the course; and finally, we conducted a field study with students from this course in order to investigate whether the educational process of the students allow them to comprehend social technology as a tool of social transformation, and, therefore, as an instrument to strengthen the social function of IFRN. We have also realized that the institutional documents, PPC and PPP, present the necessary possibilities to strengthen the social function of IFRN through social technology. Referring to the education provided to the students, we have identified consistent characteristics of a transforming education as the inclusion of extension projects in the teaching practice, indicated by the students as the main link between the educational institution and society. In addition, we have identified, in the testimony of students that the comprehension of social technology as an important element of transformation, although the students did not have opportunity to develope their formal principles during the formation process. According to the discussion and interpretation of the data collected during the field research presented, we have observed that the training provided to students includes the understanding of social technology as tool of transformation for the society and, therefore, contributes to the strengthening of IFRN social function. However, we do not have the intention to make the knowledge produced definite, but raise new references about the object studied.