The professional education on the Lulism agenda: visibility and limitations of corporate interests

Abstract

Vocational education in the PT governments has taken on singular importance, presented by President Lula from his own experience, since the only title he had at the time was that of SENAI’s mechanical turner. The expansion and internalization of vocational education, starting with the MEC, went through 13 years of PT governments in the Lula and Dilma governments and was even the subject of national debate during the presidential campaign with Pronatec. The emphasis on professional education has meant that in less than 10 years the PT governments have built more federal vocational schools than in 120 years of the Republic. It is a historical coincidence that the very creator of the first federal schools, at 1909, was also a president, Nilo Peçanha, with characteristics close to the origins of Lula. This text makes explicit the developmentalism mark that brings in its focus the professional education, through the analysis within the federal government of the political disputes and the definition and implementation of programs for the area, with special attention to the Federal Institutes, their virtues and vicissitudes.