O olhar e os caminhos: “escolhas” profissionais de jovens em Portugal

Abstract

Este artigo propõe uma discussão sobre juventude e escolha profissional de jovens, considerando as desigualdades sociais e o racismo estrutural nas sociedades contemporâneas. O marco teórico-metodológico deste estudo dialoga com a teoria crítica de raça e racismo no campo das Ciências Sociais e Educação. Além da revisão de literatura sobre juventude, orientação vocacional. Assim perguntamos: as escolas são espaços onde é possível incluir tal discussão? Para tal, realizamos oficinas com grupos de alunos em escolas de nível secundário em Portugal. O resultado da experiência e vivência com os alunos sugere que as escolas podem ser um espaço mediador em condições de auxilia-los neste momento de escolha profissional visando um projeto de vida adulta, e ao mesmo tempo informá-los sobre o contexto social ao seu entorno, com um olhar para as desigualdades sociais e ao combate ao racismo.

This text proposes a discussion about youth and young people’s professional choice, considering social inequalities and structural racism in contemporary societies. The theoretical-methodological framework of this study dialogues with the critical theory of race and racism in the field of social sciences and education. In addition to the literature review on youth, vocational guidance. So we ask: “Are schools spaces where it is possible to include such a discussion?”. To this end, we carried out six workshops entitled, “The look and the paths: social representations of young people and professional choice”, and were carried out in public schools, with Portuguese young people, in the Central Region of Portugal, of secondary education, between December 2019 and March 2020. The result of the experience and experience with the students suggests that schools can be a mediating space capable of helping them in this moment of professional choice aiming at an adult life project, and at the same time informing them about the social context around them, with a look at social inequalities and the fight against racism. In general, the students participating in the workshops, with rare exceptions, aim to enter the university, especially public educational establishments, and often close to their region of residence, in careers that, according to them, have greater “social prestige”. That is, prestige can be associated with the candidate-vacancy relationship in the selection process, with the potential for career gain, or with the social hierarchy of professions.