The option for Integrated Secondary Education: the case of students from an agricultural campus of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology from the North of Minas Gerais

Abstract

This article analyzes the option of students from an agricultural campus of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology from the North of Minas Gerais for Integrated Secondary Education (EMI). The institution is located in the North Mesoregion of Minas Gerais. Data collection included the realization of a focus group with eight EMI students and the application of structured questionnaires to three hundred and sixty-three students from this type of education. The following questions were constituted as key elements of this study: why did students from Technical Courses Integrated to High School at this institution choose this type of education? Does the EMI on the campus in question address the needs of young people to enter the World of Work? What is the outline of the profiles of this group of individuals? What are the connections between their profiles and the itineraries of their school-work-university transition? The stages of this research (focus group and structured questionnaire), combined with the theoretical framework, were essential to understand what those subjects want and which representations they build about the institution and the courses.