História e memória da constituição do serviço social escolar na educação profissional federal Norte-Rio-Grandense (1962-1974)

Abstract

This study examines the process through which School Social Service was constituted and institutionalized within Professional Education in the state of Rio Grande do Norte between 1962 and 1974. It highlights the social, cultural, and historical factors that shaped this process, encompassing the institutional trajectories of the Industrial School of Natal, the Federal Industrial School of Rio Grande do Norte, and the Technical Federal School of Rio Grande do Norte, institutions that preceded the current Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN). The dissertation is structured into two main analytical moments. The first investigates the historical and cultural formation of the Social Service professional who came to work in the school context, based on a bibliographical study. The second analyzes institutional documents, legislation, newspaper articles, and historical sources in order to examine and describe the implementation and institutionalization of School Social Service within the institution. The research adopts a historiographical approach grounded in the theoretical perspectives of Cultural History, the History of Educational Institutions, and School Culture. Methodologically, the study is based on the framework proposed by Rüsen (2015), drawing on Droysen’s systematic stages of heuristics, criticism, interpretation, and narrative construction. Data collection was conducted at the IFRN Natal-Central Campus Archive and included draft regulations, internal regulations, meeting minutes, ordinances, reports, and documentary files of former staff members from the period, with approval from the IFRN Research Ethics Committee. The study problematizes the assistentialist roots of the Social Service profession and the development of professional practices aimed at student assistance during the period, giving visibility to the main actors involved in this process. The findings indicate that, initially, student assistance was carried out not only by social workers but predominantly by educational counselors, both of whom were aligned with a school culture focused on student disciplinarization and assistentialism. From 1967 onwards, with the entry of new professionals, Social Service began to adopt a more critical and systemic approach, influenced by broader analytical perspectives and the modernization of the profession. The study also shows that changes in the school’s organizational structure gradually attributed to social workers the professional role of rights guarantors and administrators of social assistance benefits. It concludes that School Social Service became a fundamental component of student retention and student–family–school integration and that its institutionalization involved a transition from an assistentialist practice to one centered on the guarantee of rights, consolidating Social Service as an integral part of the historical memory and identity of Professional Education in Rio Grande do Norte.