SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.20The letters and the nation: Olavo Bilac and his chronicles about education (1900-1906)Maria Victoria Peralta. Her commitment to kindergarten education in Chile and Latin America author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Services on Demand

Journal

Article

Share


Cadernos de História da Educação

On-line version ISSN 1982-7806

Cad. Hist. Educ. vol.20  Uberlândia  2021  Epub Jan 29, 2022

https://doi.org/10.14393/che-v20-2021-53 

Articles

Secondary Education in Portugal and Brazil in the Twentieth Century1

Giseli Cristina do Vale Gatti1 
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9237-8777; lattes: 1961059262254729

Luís Alberto Marques Alves2 
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7242-9880

1Universidade de Uberaba (Brazil). giseli.vale.gatti@gmail.com

2Universidade do Porto (Portugal). laalves@letras.up.pt


Abstract

The theme of this paper is secondary education in Portugal and in Brazil in the 20th century from a comparative perspective. This history is first examined based on a conceptual discussion and a historical contextualization of what occurred in both countries in the period defined. Then a reference bibliography and a significant part of the historiography that exists on this educational level in Portugal and Brazil is presented. Next, the legislation and some aspects related to school institutions, curricula, and practices are examined. Finally, similarities and differences between Portugal and Brazil in the historical paths and the current situation of secondary education are indicated.

Keywords: Secondary Education; Portugal; Brazil; Historiography; Legislation; Practices

Resumo

Este artigo aborda, em perspectiva comparada, a temática do Ensino Secundário em Portugal e no Brasil durante o Século XX. Parte-se de uma discussão conceitual e de uma contextualização histórica do que se passou em ambos os países no período delimitado. Em seguida, faz-se uma apresentação da bibliografia de referência e de uma parte significativa da historiografia existente sobre este nível de ensino em Portugal e no Brasil. Depois, examina-se a legislação e alguns aspectos relacionados às instituições escolares, seus currículos e práticas. Ao final, apontam-se semelhanças e diferenças entre os percursos e a situação atual do Ensino Secundário em Portugal e no Brasil.

Palavras-chave: Ensino Secundário; Portugal; Brasil; Historiografia; Legislação; Práticas

Resumen

Este artículo aborda, en perspectiva comparada, la temática de la Enseñanza Secundaria en Portugal y en Brasil durante el siglo XX. Se inicia con una discusión conceptual y de una contextualización histórica de lo que pasó en ambos países en el periodo delimitado. En seguida, se hace una presentación de la bibliografía de referencia y de una parte significativa de la historiografía existente sobre este nivel de enseñanza en Portugal y en Brasil. Después, se examina la legislación y algunos aspectos relacionados a las instituciones escolares, sus currículos y prácticas. Al final, se apuntan semejanzas y diferencias entre los itinerarios y la situación actual de la Enseñanza Secundaria en Portugal y Brasil.

Palabras-clave: Enseñanza Secundaria; Portugal; Brasil; Historiografía; Legislación; Prácticas

Introduction

An approach to secondary education over the 20th century and in a comparative perspective focusing on Portugal and Brazil was the challenge taken on by the authors in the research that supported the writing of this paper. To do so, investigation began with points in common, aiming at analysis of similarities and differences in the historical paths of this educational level in both countries.

To that end, the aspects chosen for an approach contained a conceptual analysis related to secondary education; a historical-educational contextualization; a reference bibliography and, therefore, identification of the more significant historiography regarding this level of education in Portugal and Brazil; the legislation established and put into practice; and aspects related to school institutions, above all, curricula and practices.

Based on presentation of these topics in relation to each of the two countries in reference, which was discussed at length in the first and second parts of this paper, we sought to indicate similarities and differences between the historical paths of secondary education in Portugal and in Brazil, as well as to evaluate what currently separates us regarding this level of education.

1. Secondary Education in Portugal

In this first part of the text, the focus is on secondary education in Portugal, specifically in the period of the Portuguese Republics, from 1910 to 1998. The respective topics for analysis are educational conceptualization, periodization, historiography, legislation, institutions, curricula, and practices.

1.1. From conception to periodization

It is said that the government minister Veiga Simão had invited Carlos Proença to be general director at the time in which the decision was made to combine the general directorships of academic education and technical education and received the following reply: “I am prouder to be the last general director of technical education than to be the first general director of secondary education (OLIVEIRA, 2003, p.1123)2.

This quote points to three issues that are central in addressing secondary education in Portugal over the 20th century: first, the meaning and role of the protagonists - we have here a government minister and a general director that clearly show the role of educational policies; second, the meaning that the April Revolution brought to our educational system, particularly to secondary education - making secondary education an academic pursuit and eliminating the historically marginalized and stigmatized subsystem that characterized technical education; and third, the rupture in the educational field that led to a regime change; yet 20 years more will be necessary to create a new identity for secondary education in Portugal. In a succinct manner, we will attempt to delineate the main phases and changes that, from the establishment of the Republic in 1910, this educational subsystem embodied. First, it is fitting to clarify what we understand by secondary education in reference to Portugal. João Barroso explains:

Up to the 1970s, the place that secondary education occupied in the educational system was clear and well defined, by its length (long courses) and by its social function (selection and certification). The main objective was to ensure, for the minority that continued with post-primary (and post-mandatory) studies, two different (and socially hierarchical) routes for socialization and training of youth [academic education and technical education]. [...] Secondary education was being progressively shortened by suppression of the 1st cycle in 1964 (with extension of mandatory schooling from 4 to 6 years) and by suppression of the 2nd cycle in 1986 (with extension of mandatory schooling from 6 to 9 years) without having witnessed a corresponding change in its purposes, nature, and manner of organization (BARROSO, 1999, p.121-124)3.

This clarification will explain the content, for we will make reference to academic education and technical education in the period that will bring us from the First Republic (1910-1926) to the April Revolution of 1974, though in the final part of the 20th century, problems of the identity of secondary education will emerge, particularly visible in the discussions moving between its eminently professional training vocation and the responsibility of contributing to democratization of Portuguese society in a European framework of greater political responsibility, as well as economic and social responsibility.

It is thus important to begin by identifying the five phases that define this educational level, with a brief characterization that indicates the singularity of each.

1st phase: 1910 to 1948 - Distinguished by two guiding lines, as a result of the subsystem: in the case of academic education, it sought, above all, to provide continuity to an aspect that came from the school reform of Jaime Moniz (1894/1895), which broke away from the education by subjects that had been in effect since 1836, introducing the system of classes where “the subjects taught should constitute a coherent whole” (Barroso, 1999, p.122)4. In the technical educational subsystem, it would be the Azevedo Neves Reform of 1918 that made the difference, highlighting the role of the Schools of Arts and Trades, but above all, widening the network of establishments, for it was believed that “the vocational school is the strongest lever of societies”5.

2nd phase: 1948-1949 to 1969-1970 - The end of the Second World War led to the need for incorporation of changes, both in academic education and in technical education, by defining even more the social, economic, and political functions of each one of the subsystems. Three cycles now emerge in the former - the first that lasts two years; the second, three; and a third, with two years6. In the case of the “Statute of Vocational, Industrial, and Commercial Education promulgated on 25 August 1948”, structural and innovative changes stand out in the curricular design of technical education and in the overall framework of the educational system, furthermore serving as a laboratory for some modifications that would later spread to education in general (for example, the preparatory cycle)7.

3rd phase: 1969-1970 to April 1974 - Various authors refer to this phase as an “isolated attempt at improvement of the system” (Emídio, 1981, p.190-221)8. It began even a little before, when the legal decree Decreto-Lei 47.480 of 2 January 1967 proceeded with “unification of the 1st cycle of academic education and of the preparatory cycle of technical education”, coming into effect in 1968-1969. This implementation of a unified preparatory cycle (of secondary education) clearly showed the extension of mandatory schooling to 6 years (decreed in 1964), but also some lack of definition between the roles to be performed by academic and technical education. There was increasing will to create a general reform that would incorporate specific measures, aiming in the direction of unification of the two types of education. Reconversion of technical education began in 1970-1971 - general courses and complementary courses - and the structure of the complementary cycle of academic education also changed. Above all, preparation was made on what would become known as the Veiga Simão Reform (Lei 5/1973).

4th phase: April 1974 to 1980-1982 - After the revolution, “the two main changes implemented in the structure of secondary education were found in the unification of the general course (3 years) and in implementation of complementary courses (2 years) of a single track for the two branches of education” (Emídio, 1981, p.197)9. Their structure encompassed “five areas of study (scientific-natural, scientific-technological, economic-social, humanities, and visual arts), integrating three components: a common stem mandatory for general training; specific training, through a group of mandatory subjects and electives that did not coincide in the two years; and vocational training envisioned according to the domains of activity and the courses of higher education to which they are directed” (Emídio, 1981, p.199)10. In addition, Decreto-Lei nº 80/78 of 27 April clarified that “all secondary educational establishments come to have the generic designation of secondary schools” (art. 1). In short, the technical school subsystem disappeared.

5th phase: 1982 to 1998/99 - Some emblematic features embody this phase: (re)introduction of technical-vocational education in 198311 after admission of the error of its extemporaneous disappearance following the revolution; promulgation of the basic law of the educational system (Lei de Bases do Sistema Educativo) in 1986 that broadened mandatory schooling to 9 years and redefined the functions of basic education and secondary education12; creation of vocational training schools (Decreto-Lei 26/89 of 21 January); creation of the new structural and curricular profile of secondary education (Decreto-Lei 286/89); generalization of the new secondary education, with the Secondary Courses Predominantly Directed toward continuation of studies (Cursos Secundários Predominantemente Orientados para o prosseguimento de estudos - CSPOPE) and the Secondary Courses Predominantly Directed toward active life (Cursos Secundários Predominantemente Orientados para a Vida Activa - CSPOVA) in 1993-1994; and in 1997, the beginning of the process of “Curriculum Review/Revision of Secondary Education”, which would extend to 2001 and which was the object of an important “Recommendation” (nº3/98) from the National Education Council (Conselho Nacional de Educação - CNE).

1.2. Portuguese historiography regarding secondary education

Consideration of some bibliographic milestones on secondary education in Portugal quickly reveals the predominance of studies regarding academic education over studies on technical education. In spite of this imbalance, we have sought to choose the most significant, keeping some quantitative equality in mind.

Immediately, two works emerge through their extensive length and were the only ones published from a collection managed by Jorge Ramos do Ó and upon the request of the General Secretary of the Ministry of Education - “O Estado e a Educação em Portugal - séculos XVIII a XX” (“The State and Education in Portugal - 18th to 20th centuries”). The first volume is on academic education and the second on technical education.

- Ó, Jorge Ramos do (2009). Ensino Liceal (1836-1975) [Academic Education (1836-1975)]. Lisbon, Secretaria-Geral do Ministério da Educação. In addition to being a historical text of extensive length that takes us from Pombal to the Revolution of 1974, there is an emphasis on large reforms, on the academic education population, on the content, on administration, and on specific architecture. The work includes an anthology of texts produced in differentiated political contexts and in different arenas and media (chambers and assemblies of legislative authorities, writings of politicians, pedagogues, and professors, for example), as well as an extensive bibliography on this level of education and a compilation of the main reforms.

- ALVES, Luís Alberto Marques; SOUSA, Pedro Rodrigues de; MORAIS, Teresa Torrinhas; and ARAÚJO, Francisco Miguel Veloso (2009). Ensino Técnico (1756-1973) [Technical Education (1756-1973)]. Lisbon, Secretaria-Geral do Ministério da Educação. Following the line defined for the collection, there is a historical text that catalogues the main changes from the Class on Trade created in the time of Marquis of Pombal to the Educational Reform of Veiga Simão; there is a compilation of the main legislation that emerged over this extensive period; some emblematic spoken and written lines were also selected to reflect the thought of different notable persons; and bibliographic suggestions are made. The decision was made to include in this work a specific text on the Industrial and Commercial Institutes in Portugal, which were educational spaces for specialized education without having the designation of higher education, but that would be at the foundation of creation of polytechnical higher education already in the 1970s.

- SILVA, Manuela and TAMEN, M. Isabel (Coordination) (1981). Sistema de Ensino em Portugal (Educational System in Portugal). Lisbon, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. A wide-ranging work with different authors that compose different chapters with all the subsystems of education and that encompass particular aspects. “Historical perspective”, “Current educational system”, “Situations and trends in the different levels of education”, “Specific problems of some educational sectors”, “Areas of support for education”, “Education and socio-political development”, and “Future perspectives” are the different parts that allow us to have an objective view of education in Portugal, ensuring insertion of secondary education in the contextual frame of reference of educational policies in the 20th century (up to 1980).

- AZEVEDO, Joaquim (2000). O ensino secundário na Europa: o neoprofissionalismo e o sistema educativo mundial. (Secondary education in Europe: neovocationalism and the world educational system.) Porto, Edições ASA. This advantage of this work is that its author is the protagonist of important educational changes in the post-April 25 (April Revolution after a long dictatorship) period, supported in this reflection that constituted his doctoral studies work. Yet, it also allows us to perceive the approximation and distance of our decisions on secondary education in a European and worldwide frame of reference. The interdisciplinary intersections with sociology, economics, and history allow us to access a rigorous conceptualization regarding the space and identity of an educational subsystem that is the target of multiple ideological incursions, whether more vocational or more educational. The author himself became the protagonist of the reintroduction of Vocational Technical Education in the 1980s in which this was the central issue.

- JUSTINO, David (2010). Difícil é Educá-los. (The Hard Thing is to Educate Them) Lisbon, Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos. In the line of the previous work, we have a Minister of Education as the author and a systemic view as the object of study. This same foundation is responsible for publishing another work in 2020 - LOURA, Luísa Canto e Castro (2020). Como aprendem os portugueses- escola, ensino básico e secundário, ensino superior (How the Portuguese learn - primary and secondary school, and higher education) which completes the previous study with important statistical data related to the second half of the 20th century and first two decades of the 21st century. Both one and the other help us to perceive the relevance that secondary education has taken on in the framework of mandatory schooling (currently 12 years), but also in the relation between secondary education for continuation of studies and another that is more vocational for entering the job market.

- Finally, not least because it is a reference in the deadline of this paper in reference to secondary education in Portugal, we highlight the work of the National Education Council that provides a synthesis but also suggestions for the educational reform to be implemented already in the 21st century. AZEVEDO, Joaquim (coordination) (1999). O Ensino Secundário em Portugal - Estudos. (Secondary Education in Portugal - Studies). Lisbon, Conselho Nacional de Educação. Its introduction clarifies its objective and scope: “(...) the Department of Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education, having recognized the urgency of specifying the role of secondary education in the perspective of education and training throughout life, consolidating its organization, and readjusting its content, launched a project of participatory curriculum review/revision in February 1997 (....). It was in this context that the National Education Council established the theme ‘Secondary Education and Training on a Secondary Level: characterization of the present and draft for the future’”13. This work is the contribution to this discussion and support for future decisions.

1.3. Portuguese legislation on secondary education

Throughout the historical evolution of school organization and management, a continuing tension (and many times conflict) is recorded between two types of rationalities: pedagogical rationality and administrative rationality. This tension constitutes two standards of reference, between which the different modes and processes of secondary school management oscillated: a vocational organization [...] and a state service (BARROSO, 1999, p.130)14.

Pedagogy, administration, management, organization, ideology, content, curriculum, subjects, evaluation... all these words (and many others) appear in association with the legal framework of secondary education over the 20th century in Portugal. Decentralization was always more a fiction than a reality. Private initiative was always seen with some distrust, appearing in association with the creation of regulatory agencies able to evaluate and monitor school processes (for example, school inspection). Thus, the legal framework should be understood in the light of these presuppositions, where what is legislated does not always have consequences in the educational sphere, and frequently, changes of a political nature normally entail the interruption of choices made previously. Legislation may even be passed and before entering into effect, the legal change is suspended.

This clarification does not impede that some significant legislative milestones can be selected. We begin, still in the 19th century, with the “Regulamento geral do ensino secundário” (“General regulation of secondary education”), published on 14 August 1895, in the government of João Franco but whose main mentor was Jaime Moniz. The institutionalization of the classroom regime, which would be maintained up to our time, is proof of its indispensability, even more after 25 April 1974 with the uniform application of secondary education. Authors refer to the “academization of technical education”, showing the predominance of the academic aspect over the vocational.

In the case of technical education, observing the most significant structuring of the network and of the complementary role between the schools of industrial and commercial education and the substituting institutes in the 1880s, it was with Azevedo Neves in 1918 that we observe the first great reorganization of technical education in the 20th century. Indeed, the report that accompanies the decree and that extends for more than 50 pages is a good example of the need for deep retrospective analysis in the sense of appropriately rationalizing the network and the spending in this sector.

Another important moment of legislative intervention is in post-World War II, in a new set of needs, both for administration of the State and training of elites (in which the role of academic education is absolutely fundamental) and for training of technicians qualified for new professions and new technologies, where training in technical education fits in. Decreto 36 508 of 17 September 1947 that defines the new “Statute on Academic Education”, creating the three cycles (2 years + 3 years + 2 years), clearly points toward “preparation of students for admission into a higher education program”. In a complementary manner, the Statute on Vocational Industrial and Commercial Education promulgated on 25 August 1948 (Decreto 37 029) ensures not only a choice of the course after a preparatory cycle, expecting with this innovation to increase the training of the future laborer, but also a more settled option as a result of greater age of the student.

Only near the end of the Estado Novo (New State or 2nd Portuguese Republic), do we begin to perceive greater movement in the legal framework. On 2 January 1967, Decreto-Lei 47 480 unifies the 1st cycle of academic education and technical education. On 25 July 1973, Lei 5/73 of the government minister Veiga Simão is published, which comes to constitute a foundation for post-revolution education. On 14 April 1978, Decreto-Lei 80/78 formalized the merging of technical education and academic education, with the designation of “secondary schools”. Awareness of the unsuitable end of technical education led to resumption of the political will to “create technical-vocational and vocational courses to administer after the 9th year of schooling” on 19 October 1983 through Despacho Normativo 194-A/83. The “reintroduction of vocational education and reinforcement of the diverse modalities of vocational training” is ensured by Decreto-Lei 26/89 of 21 January 1989. In that same year, the new curriculum plan of the new reform of secondary education foreseen in the Basic Law of the Educational System (Lei 46/86 of 14 October) is defined in Decreto-Lei 286/89 of 29 August. At the beginning of the 1990s, the offer of education and training on a secondary level was as follows:

Chart 1 Education/training options after mandatory schooling (1992) 

Characteristics and Paths Access Length (Hours) Training Components
General Specific Technical
Secondary Education
- General courses (4)
- Technological (11)
9th year 3 years (3270) 34 45 21
9th year 3 years (3270) 34 30 36
Vocational Schools 9th year 3 years (3600) 25 25 50
Learning
(level 3 - CE)
9th year 3 to 4 years (4800) 19 19 62

Source: Prepared by Luis Alberto Marques Alves based on the legislation in force.

At the end of 1997, the Ministry of Education began the process of review/revision of secondary education, distributing a “guiding document” entitled “Develop, Consolidate, Guide”. In addition to identifying the main guidelines for secondary schools, it began the process of participatory curriculum review/revision that was concluded in the first semester of 199815. Recommendation nº3/98 of the CNE, to which we have already referred, was a contribution to this process. This review/revision was approved by Decreto-Lei 7/2001, but a change in government led to its suspension on 20 June 2002 (Decreto-Lei 156/2002). It came into effect, with some changes, only in the school year of 2004/2005 (Decreto-Lei 74/2004).

1.4. School institutions, curricula, and practices of secondary education in Portugal

The History of Education Association of Portugal (Associação de História da Educação de Portugal - HISTEDUP) regularly makes an assessment of doctoral dissertations defended in universities of Portugal or abroad by Portuguese authors. The last assessment was in 201516. The works produced that focus on school institutions, curricula, and practices can be found there. As above, here we will make a subjective selection of some examples that assist us in better understanding secondary education in Portugal in the 20th century.

We immediately choose the collection that includes the monographs from 35 academy schools created before 1950 and that, in most cases, exist in our time as secondary schools. The work is NÓVOA, António and SANTA-CLARA, Ana Teresa (coordination) (2003). “Liceus de Portugal”. Histórias, Arquivos, Memórias. [“Academy schools of Portugal”. Stories, Archives, Memories.] Porto, Edições ASA. By the methodology used and followed by all the authors, by the archival sources revealed and preserved, and by the advantageous articulation between the singularity of each case and the homogeneity of the work, it has come to constitute a basis for many academic studies.

Also in academic education and aiming to reveal a work of depth regarding one of the most emblematic academic schools - Pedro Nunes - I highlight Ó, Jorge Ramos do (2003). O governo de si mesmo. Modernidade Pedagógica e Encenações disciplinares do aluno liceal (último quarte do século XIX - meados do século XX) [Ruling oneself. Pedagogical modernity and disciplinary performance of the academic student (last quarter of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century)]. Lisbon, Educa. School practices are particularly in evidence here, above all by the wealth of documentation consulted in regard to students and also in regard to reports of school directors that provide a very clear view of the institutional corset in the face of the centripetal force of the government ministries.

I highlight a final component, the work of BARROSO, João (1995). Os Liceus. Organização Pedagógica e Administração (1836-1960), [The Academic Schools. Pedagogical Organization and Administration (1836-1960)] Lisbon, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and JNICT, first by its long duration, and then because it considers from “Administration of the Academic Schools” to “Management of Time and of Space”, passing through “Educational Policies of the Estado Novo and the Organization of the Academic School”.

In the case of technical education, there are no works of such great breadth; nevertheless, I would highlight three in a similar manner as for the academic schools. The first is GRÁCIO, Sérgio (1998). Ensinos Técnicos e Política em Portugal 1910/1990 (Technical Education and Politics in Portugal 1910/1990) Lisbon, Instituto Piaget, which presents the articulation of the transformations of this subsystem with social, economic, and political changes through three political regimes - Republic, Estado Novo, and Democratization Period following 25 April 1974. It associates the singular treatment of some institutions, encompassing educational practices, tensions between the center and margins of power, and isolation or sharing options with civil society, particularly the business fabric.

Two cases of works that seek to record the local “footprint” of a technical education initiative are MARTINHO, António Manuel Pelicano Matoso (1993), A Escola Avelar Brotero 1884-1984 - Contributo para a história do ensino técnico-profissional (The Avelar Brotero School 1884-1984 - Contribution to the history of technical-vocational education), Guarda, self-published, brings the example of Coimbra, of an eminently monographic nature. DELGADO, Rui Nunes Proença (1984), No Centenário da Escola Industrial Campos e Melo na Covilhã (1884-1984), [On the Centennial of the Campos and Melo Industrial School in Covilhã (1884-1984)], Covilhã, self-published, shows the articulation between an industrial company of a businessman that gave the school its name and the training of specialized workers in an educational context and in the face of socioeconomic demand. In this same line, Técnica e Humanismo-Revista Comemorativa do 1º centenário da Escola Secundária Carlos Amarante (Technique and Humanism - Commemorative magazine of the 1st centennial of the Carlos Amarante Secondary School), Braga, 1985; and in 2019, FERTUSINHOS, Eusébio (coordination), 133 Anos a desenhar o futuro (133 years to design the future) are noteworthy, in an edition from the same school of a book in the context of the commemoration of 60 years of the building. These pretexts still reveal the identity features that they intend to maintain, regardless of the past as a technical school or the present as a secondary school.

Finally, I cite a more specialized and more forgotten technical education, artistic education. The excellent work CAETANO, Francisco Perfeito (2012), Escola de Artes Decorativas Soares dos Reis. O Ensino Técnico Artístico no Porto durante o Estado Novo (1948-1973) [Soares dos Reis School of Decorative Arts. Artistic Technical Education in Porto during the Estado Novo (1948-1973)], Porto, Uporto Editorial, carries us to other educational practices (furniture, graphic arts, jewelry making, painting, sculpture, ceramics), within a singular institution, directed by an exceptional director (Sousa Caldas) with strong connections to the city of Porto, where some of the works created by his students are still visible.

The secondary schools of today, heirs of academic schools or of technical schools, have their sites where a “historical draft” always appears to make a link with their historical heritage, but above all, where we can see their “Educational Projects” that clearly show the singularity of their practices, essentially envisioning the educational and personal success of their students.

1.5. The current state of Portugal at the dawn of the twenty-first century

The pursuit of what is now secondary education remained as an option of exception on the part of families up to the end of the 1960s. […] In 1961, only 13,000 students attended secondary school. Only 31% of young people more than 15 years old were occupied in educational tasks. In 1975, the first numbers rise to 68,000. From 1975 to 2000, the 3rd cycle and secondary education gain more than half a million students, fruit of the broadening of mandatory schooling to 9 years in 1986 (and later to 12 years in 2009). In 2001, we have 414,000 students in secondary school. Even so, in the population without this level of education, Portugal was below the mean of the EU 27. Recovery already occurs in the 21st century, arriving at 2018 with only 29% of the population from 25 to 34 years old without secondary education, when in 2004, it was still 60%. In 2018, 29% of these students attended vocational courses, and the most popular areas were Information Technology, Hotels and Restaurants, Audiovisual and Media, and Tourism and Leisure (LOURA, 2020).17

There was a certain identity crisis in the period prior to 1973, a crisis brought about above all by the stigma in attending technical education in contrast with the social notoriety attributed to academic education. After that, through the Veiga Simão Reform, we observe an approximation of these two subsystems of secondary education with the end of the technical school and the academization of secondary education in Portugal. Only the political will of the 1980s brings us a new commitment to vocational education, particularly through the introduction of the Office of Technical, Artistic, and Vocational Education (Gabinete de Ensino Técnico, Artístico e Profissional - GETAP), led by a striking figure in this reintroduction, Joaquim Azevedo (director of this decentralized space for educational decision making and later government secretary for basic and secondary education). The coordination of Resolução 3/98 of the CNE regarding secondary education clearly marks the maturity of reflection on this level of education. Portugal already has components of general courses, vocational courses, and education and training courses, assuming a plurality of options able to respond to the different typologies of young people, whether in the perspective of faster entry in the labor market or seeking access to higher education in the university or polytechnical institutes.

Looking at the numbers for the beginning of the 21st century, we can affirm retrospectively that 1) there was evolution (quite slow) of schooling from 1960 to 1974; 2) we observe democratization of education beginning in April 1974; 3) the economic and social role of vocational education in the sphere of more inclusive secondary education has been consolidated; and 4) higher education had extraordinary expansion in offerings and attendance18.

2. Secondary Education in Brazil

This second part of the text discusses secondary education in Brazil, from the beginning of the period of the republic in 1889 up to 1996, the time of publication of the last general education legislation (Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional - LDB), through the following topics: general contextualization, expansion of enrollment, and school historiography, legislation, institutions, curricula, and practices.

2.1. General contextualization and expansion of enrollment in secondary education in Brazil

The origin of the endeavor of mass education between the 18th and 19th centuries was linked to a view of a “school produced as an institution able not only to instruct and educate children and youth, but also to produce an orderly, progressive, and civilized country” (FARIA FILHO, 2002, p.24)19.

The Republic of Brazil, proclaimed in 1889, carried a promise of renewal in educational policies, extending in some measure to secondary education, which lacked identity and organic unity in relation to the other levels of education in Brazil. Thus, because of the new political scenario, educational reforms were implemented by the federal government, which, according to Souza (2008), sought to regulate admission criteria for higher education, create a system of equivalence among schools, and establish schooling that was regular, in graded levels, and with mandatory attendance in secondary studies.

In the face of reforms that occurred from implementation of the Republic, we can specify three levels of education: vocational primary schooling, secondary education (of a classic humanistic character), and higher education. The first level was intended for training of the general population and the second to produce/shape elites to conduct Brazilian society that prepared for higher education studies and, consequently, to prepare youth to occupy important positions. It is important to highlight that vocational education was in parallel with secondary education for a long period, until, with reform 5.692/71, secondary education necessarily became vocational. In that perspective, Geraldo Bastos Silva (1969) calls attention to the selective character of secondary education, namely:

The institutions of this type of education were clearly selective in a triple sense: socially their students came from the higher social classes, presumably under the same special conditions of motivation and pre-school and outside of school cultural experience; pedagogically, their students were recruited, as of the elementary level, through preparatory classes or schools; and professionally, these institutions aimed at providing qualification, in an exclusive manner, for the occupations that required higher education studies ( our emphasis, SILVA, 1969, p.25)20.

Since it was an education with a classic humanistic foundation under strong French influence, its curriculum structure was formulated based on a general culture. The concept of general culture, according to Geraldo Bastos Silva (1969), is related to the problem of curriculum selection and organization. In other words, in addition to pedagogical objectives, there were other interests, directed to social values and ideals of the time, that explain the transmission of certain contents, consolidating conservation of the status of a class. Thus, we follow the understanding of Silva of general culture:

The notion of “general culture” expresses a selective role effectively filled by the type of education that defines its objective through it; in other words, it represents awareness of this selective role within a crisis situation, resulting from underlying social transformations of a school organization structure enshrined by tradition (SILVA, 1969, p.91)21.

From the ideas present in the quote, we can affirm that secondary education with its academic subjects, subjects without any pretension of vocational training but with content suited to forming the spirit and the intelligence of youth, required certain minimum time conditions but also specific skills for the studies, something that was not possible for all, which characterized a level of education for few, thus reinforcing its selective character.

It should be emphasized that from the beginning of the Republic, there had been various attempts at reform of this educational level, with the intention of impressing organic unity on it, but this only occurred with the Francisco Campos Reform in 1931; Campos was the first titleholder of the Ministry of Education and Public Health. In addition, Campos' reform instituted a national educational system.

Furthermore, we highlight that from the 1930s on, the enrollment numbers for secondary education grew. We can observe this growth in numbers recorded in the statistical yearbook from 1940 on in the table below:

Table 1 Overall enrollment per educational category (1940/1954) 

Year Secondary Agricultural Industrial Commercial
1940 170,057 *** 16,978 52,454
1950 406,920 11,239 109,904 85,905
1952 466,887 5,035 18,634 89,975
1953 513,525 5,840 19,074 99,367
1954 557,346 6,293 19,679 110,297

Source: BRASIL. IBGE - Conselho Nacional de Estatística. Anuário Estatístico do Brasil - 1956. Ano XVII. Retrieved from: https://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/visualizacao/periodicos/20/aeb_1956.pdf. Accessed on 15 Feb. 2021. p.346.

Consequently, with this increase in enrollment numbers, the number of educational establishments also grew, as shown in Table 2.

Table 2 Secondary education establishments in Brazil (1945-1959) 

Number of secondary education establishments in Brazil
1945 1959 Percent growth
827 2,715 228.4%

Source: GATTI, Giseli Cristina do Vale; GATTI JR., Décio. A expansão do Ensino Secundário em Minas Gerais: estatísticas, legislação e historiografia (1942-1961). Revista da FAEEBA - Educação e Contemporaneidade. v.29, n.59, p.231-2. 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21879/faeeba2358-0194.2020.v29.n59.p228-257.

Although the proposal contained discourse related to democratization of access to secondary education, what we perceive in the Francisco Campos Reform and later in the Gustavo Capenema Reform, was the predominance of an extensive curriculum through a rigorous system of evaluation, of which the entrance examination necessary for admission in secondary education is part, and this made it extremely selective.

In addition to the reforms, secondary education had various designations over the history of Brazilian education, namely (in approximate English equivalents), secondary instruction, secondary teaching, secondary education, gymnasium course, and fundamental secondary course. It should also be emphasized that:

The secondary school institutions, in each period, received different designations: Academy, High School, and Gymnasium School. The name used for secondary education by the Benjamin Constant Reform of 1890 was mid-level course; in 1901, the new educational reform of Epitácio Pessoa designated secondary teaching; the subsequent reform, Rivadávia, of 1911, placed the name of fundamental course; by the Maximiliano Reform, of 1915, secondary education came to be called the gymnasium course; in 1925, with the Rocha Vaz Reform, it returned to secondary teaching. From the 1930s on, the reforms divided this level of education into two cycles: in 1931, the Francisco Campos Reform approved the 1st cycle as the fundamental secondary course and the 2nd as the complementary secondary course; in 1942, the Gustavo Capanema Reform reprised the term gymnasium course for the 1st cycle, while the 2nd cycle came to have two options for youth, the classic course or the scientific course. With approval of the first general education legislation, Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Brasileira, in 1961, the two secondary education cycles came to be called gymnasium cycle and high school cycle, and, finally, in 1971, by Lei no 5.692, secondary education was reformulated with the designation 1st and 2nd level/degree education (Ensino de 1º e 2º graus) (PESSANHA; ASSIS; SILVA, 2017, p.313)22.

In 1996, the Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional (LDB) was implemented, which brought a new designation to this level of education, and it is currently Mid-Level Education (Ensino Médio). The first regulations implemented for this level of education were published in 1988, which were Parecer n. 15/1998 and Resolução n. 03/1998. These were important documents because they constituted the first version of the National Curriculum Guidelines (Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais) for Mid-Level Education, which helped to restructure the curriculum for this level of education.

2.2. Historiography of secondary education in Brazil

In relation to the bibliography, we have various publications on topics related to secondary education, but here we present some that are considered fundamental for an understanding of the historical path of this educational level in the period under discussion.

First, it is important to mention the publication of the work “A Educação Secundária no Brasil” (“Secondary Education in Brazil”) in 1955, made up of two texts written by Jayme Abreu. The first, called “A Educação Secundária no Brasil (Ensaio de identificação de suas características principais)” [“Secondary Education in Brazil (Essay on identification of its main characteristics)”], discusses the nature and the purposes of secondary education, its curriculum, and its programs with a series of charts and tables that illustrate the expansion of education in various regions of Brazil. The second text, entitled “Considerações sobre o Seminário Interamericano de Educação Secundária” (“Considerations on the Interamerican Seminar on Secondary Education”), presents a study of the author in respect to secondary education for presentation in this seminar, in which he makes a critical analysis of this level of education, portraying the Brazilian educational reality at that time.

The articles of Alberto Rovaí, “O ensino secundário no Brasil está longe de desempenhar a sua verdadeira missão” (“Secondary education in Brazil is far from performing its true mission”) (1957) and “Em nossa escola secundária, a escola, e não o aluno, é o centro da educação” (“In our secondary school, the school, and not the student, is the center of education”) (1958), both published in the Revista Brasileira de Estudos Pedagógicos (RBEP), present a critique of secondary school, which, according to the author, at that time, did not meet the needs of its pupils as it did not provide training as proposed in the legislation, and was also exclusionary. Rovaí also affirms that one of the causes of secondary education not fulfilling its purposes is related to “deformations of the examinations, in their spirit and in their manner” (1957).

Two other important publications were written by Geraldo Bastos Silva, entitled “Introdução Crítica do Ensino Secundário” (“Critical Introduction of Secondary Education”) published in 1959, with eight chapters, which makes a critical analysis of the purposes of secondary education, especially its selective function, as well as of the influence of the French and English models of education that inspired the Brazilian context and the standardization process of this educational level in Brazil. In 1969, another work of Geraldo Bastos Silva was published in which he presented a deeper treatment of the theme under discussion, namely, “A educação secundária: perspectiva histórica e teoria” (“Secondary education: historical perspective and theory”). This work is composed of nine chapters and is a revised edition of that released in 1959 that deals with analysis of general problems and the practice of secondary education.

Jayme Abreu also published three important texts in the RBEP, namely: “Tendências antagônicas do ensino secundário brasileiro” (“Conflicting trends of Brazilian secondary education”) (1960); “Ensino médio em geral e ensino secundário” (“Mid-level education in general and secondary education”) (1961); and “Escola média no século XX: um fato novo em busca de caminhos” (“Mid-level schooling in the 20th century: a new fact in search of a way”) (1961). In this set of texts, the author carried out an analysis of the expansion he experienced in secondary education in Brazil and a critique of the purposes of secondary education.

Another classic work on the theme is written by Henrique Dodsworth, called “Cem anos de Ensino Secundário no Brasil (1826-1926) [“100 years of Secondary Education in Brazil (1826-1926)”], published in 1968 by INEP, in which the author presents the main transformations that occurred in the period of 100 years at this level of education. In 1979, Clarice Nunes published an important work that dealt with the vocational emphasis of secondary education through Lei 5.692/71, the title of which is “Escola & Dependência: o ensino secundário e a manutenção da ordem” (“School & Dependence: secondary education and maintenance of order”). In this work, the author analyzes the relationship between the process of cultural dependence experienced by society in the 1950s and 1960s and the modernization of the secondary school, established by Lei 5.692/71, defining a new nomenclature, from the old secondary education to the renamed 2nd level/degree education (Ensino de 2º Grau), directed toward vocational training, with the purpose of preparing young people for the labor market.

“A Profissionalização do Ensino na Lei n. 5692/71” (“The Vocational Emphasis of Education in Lei n. 5692/71”), a title published by INEP in 1982, was written by Carlos Roberto Jamil Cury, Maria Ignez Saad Bedran Tambini, Maria Umbelina Caiafa Salgado, and Sandra Azzi, in which the process of alignment between schooling and vocational training is discussed in a period in which the economy of Brazil showed signs of positive expansion. Thus, the text referred to seeks to analyze the organization and concept of labor in society at the time, with analysis of the presuppositions contained in Lei 5.692/71 through reflection on the process of its implementation, above all in what is referred to as the mandatory nature of vocational education.

Another work of reference was published in 1984 called “Tempos de Capanema” (“Capanema Times”), written by Simon Schwartzman, Helena Maria Bousquet Bomeny, and Vanda Maria Ribeiro Costa. The work gives us a view of the political cast of Gustavo Capanema, an important figure in the history of Brazilian education, for he was head of the Ministry of Education and Health from 1934 to 1945 during the Vargas Era, notably in the period of the Estado Novo, with views that promote understanding of the great political debates of the time and of the projects of educational reform that resulted in implementation of the Organic Law of Secondary Education (Lei Orgânica do Ensino Secundário).

The article of Clarice Nunes, “O ‘velho’ e ‘bom’ ensino secundário: momentos decisivos” (“The good old secondary education: decisive moments”), published in 2000 in a special issue of the Revista Brasileira de Educação (RBE), is also an important reference in the historiography regarding secondary education, for it presents the historical path of this educational level from the Jesuit period up to the reform 5.692/71. This article carries important notations regarding the role of secondary education in various historical contexts, contributing to the development of studies and research on the theme.

Finally, worthy of note is the article “A Reforma Francisco Campos e a Modernização Nacionalizada do Ensino Secundário” (“The Francisco Campos Reform and the Nationalized Modernization of Secondary Education”), written by Norberto Dallabrida, published in 2009 in the journal Educação. The article is a discussion regarding the modernization of secondary education through the Francisco Campos Reform, which, according to the author, impressed organic unity, graded levels to the curriculum, and mandatory attendance, seeking to produce a bourgeois habitus in secondary students through integral education and through establishing practices of discipline and self-governance.

2.3. Legislation of secondary education in Brazil

Some important reforms in organization of Brazilian secondary education can be indicated. Notable among them were the Francisco Campos Reform, of 1931; the Capanema Reform, of 1942; Lei 5692/71; Lei 4.024/61; and Lei 9394/96.

With the advent of the Republic in 1889, there was intense movement in the field of education as a result of positivist ideas that strove for a new social order focused on the modernization process of the Brazilian nation, and precisely for that reason, reflection on education and the school would be primary to be able to achieve this objective. In the Republic period, many educational reforms occurred on the federal and state level, though without good results. For that reason, the Francisco Campos Reform implemented in 1931 was so important for, according to Dallabrida, that reform,

officially established the modernization of Brazilian secondary education on a national level, conferring organic unity to the secondary education school culture through setting a series of measures, such as an increase in the number of years of the secondary course and its division into two cycles, structuration of the curriculum into grades, mandatory attendance of students in classes, imposition of a detailed and regular system of student evaluation, and restructuration of the system of federal inspection. These measures sought to produce self-governed and productive secondary students, in harmony with the disciplinary and capitalistic society that was consolidating in Brazil in the 1930s (DALLABRIDA, 2009, p.185)23.

Implementation of the reform sought to bring organic unity on a national level to serve the needs of that time, but especially seeking to overcome the character of a preparatory course. Thus, taking Geraldo Bastos Silva (1969, p.285-6) as a reference, the Francisco Campos Reform represented a phase of considerable progress in the sense of constituting an institutional structure for secondary education not only suited to the purpose of basic preparation for higher education, but also directed to a more comprehensive purpose of preparation of the adolescent for satisfactory integration in a society that was becoming complex and dynamic.

Nevertheless, another reform of this educational level was yet to come, with Getúlio Vargas at the head of the provisional government and alleging the existence of a communist conspiracy with the intention of effecting a coup d'état. With the support of the military, he suspended the national congress and created the New State (Estado Novo), and Vargas remained in power until 1945 under a strong authoritarian aspect. It was within this new political scenario that in 1942, Gustavo Capanema, then Minister of Education, implemented the Organic Law of Secondary Education. In explaining his motives, Capanema presented the conception of secondary education that inspired the reform:

Conception of secondary education - The reform attributes to secondary education its fundamental purpose, which is forming the adolescent personality. However, it is noteworthy that forming the personality, adapting the human being to the requirements of society, and socialization constitutes the purpose of all types of education. And as this is the overall purpose of education, it is therefore the sole purpose of primary education, which is the basic and essential education, education for all. Nevertheless, from the second level of education on, each branch of education is characterized by a specific purpose, which adds to that overall purpose. The specific character of secondary education is its function of creating a solid general culture in adolescents, marked by cultivation of a time of ancient humanities and of modern humanities and, in that way, accentuating and raising patriotic consciousness and humanistic consciousness in them (BRASIL, 1942)24.

From the above, it can be seen that the declaration of Capanema showed the need for molding youth to lead the nation, which he clearly expresses not to be something for everyone, which leads us to understand that this level of education was directed to a minority, that is, to an “elite”, thus exhibiting a selective character, expressed in the same document:

It is that secondary education aims at preparation of the guiding figures, that is, of the men that must assume the greater responsibilities within society and the nation, of the men bearing the spiritual conceptions and attitudes that need to be instilled in the masses, that must become habitual among the people. It must therefore be a quintessentially patriotic education, and patriotic in the highest sense of the word, that is, education that is able to give adolescents an understanding of the historical continuity of the homeland, an understanding of the problems and needs, of the mission and the ideals of the nation, and, in that way, of the dangers that may go along with it, surround it, or threaten it; an education that is furthermore capable of creating, in the spirit of new generations, consciousness of responsibility in the face of the greater values of the homeland, its independence, its order, its destiny (BRASIL, 1942)25.

Moreover, besides the Organic Law of Secondary Education, other decrees were made in this period: Decreto Lei 4.073 of 30 January 1942, the Organic Law of Industrial Education; Decreto Lei 4.048 of 22 January 1942, which created the National Service of Industrial Learning (Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial - Senai); and Decreto Lei 6.141 of 28 December 1943, Organic Law of Commercial Education.

From these decrees, we can emphasize the clear division of secondary education in two categories: education directed to those that will guide the nation, giving access to higher education; and education directed to training of the labor force, necessary to the social dynamic of the period.

The Organic Law of Secondary Education lasted until 1961, at which time Lei 4.024/61 was implemented, allowing decentralization and flexibilization of education, which supplanted the humanistic education present until then in favor of a technical-scientific culture. With the new law, secondary education and vocational technical education were joined under a new name, Mid-Level Education (Ensino Médio), lasting seven years and divided according to the organizational structure previously in effect, encompassing two cycles: gymnasium school, for four years, and high school, for three years (Dallabrida; Trevizoli; Vieira, 2013, p.7)26. This new organization also allowed that the one that concluded mid-level education could compete for an opening in higher education through higher education entrance examinations (vestibular).

From 1964 to 1985, Brazil passed through a turbulent period of violence and repression through a civil-military coup d'état. In this context, new educational policies were implemented aiming at training of a vocational character so as to meet the demands of industrial society, under the argument that the country was experiencing an economic miracle as a result of industrial growth that required a specialized labor force. With this claim, Lei 5.692/71 was sanctioned, which restructured the old primary and secondary education under a new name: 1st degree and 2nd degree education (ensino de 1º e 2º grau), the latter having a vocational, compulsory and mandatory character. In this new configuration, all schools were to offer only vocational courses, with the intention of training technicians for the diverse economic activities of the country, placing aside the characteristic of a propaedeutic/preparatory course. According to the new law,

Art. 1. The education of the 1st degree and 2nd degree have the overall objective of providing students with the training necessary for development of their potentialities as an element of self-realization, qualification for work, and preparation for consciously exercising citizenship (BRASIL, 1971)27

The relationship between school and the world of work can be seen here, with adoption of a rationality as an adaptation to the modern world through the school system, and adoption of a hierarchy, with supervisors, educational advisers, administrators, and inspectors, conferring characterization of the educational activity in technical terms more appropriate to the business world (CURY; TAMBINI; SALGADO; AZZI, 1982)28. Nevertheless, this mandatory perspective materialized only in public schools, since in many private institutions, the propaedeutic/preparatory curricula directed to the sciences, language, and arts continued to be offered (MEC, 2007)29.

This experience in seeking to establish a vocational education was problematic, since the curriculum established by law gave no room for overall training of youth, for in the perspective of that time, learning must be focused on theory and practice for preparation for the labor market. This ended up weakening the proposal of vocational development, failing to integrate knowledge from the sciences, languages, and arts in the curricula, which is important for development of citizens. According to the Ministry of Education,

the power of pressure on the spheres of government. In this process, the mandatory vocational emphasis fades, so that at the end of the 1980s and first half of the 1990s when, after promulgation of the Federal Constitution of 1988, the process occurs in the Brazilian Congress that culminates in a new LDB, Lei no. 9.394/1996, coming into effect, there is nearly no longer a vocational 2nd degree education course in Brazil, except in the Federal Technical Schools (Escolas Técnicas Federais - ETF), in the Federal Agricultural-Technical Schools (Escolas Agrotécnicas Federais - EAF), and in a few state educational systems (MEC, 2007, p.15)30.

The new LDB was implemented with a view toward a new political context that was to come: political opening, a long process that began in 1974 but that culminated with the end of the civil-military dictatorship in 1985. From that point on, a new cycle began in Brazilian political history. The redemocratization period was marked by intense movement by “Diretas Já” (“Direct Elections Now”), involving different political leaders and civil society itself, which demanded direct elections for president of the Republic. Nevertheless, the process for direct elections would occur only in 1989. Because of the new context that took root in Brazil, the Constitution was rewritten and was approved in 1988, the text of which upheld numerous social rights. This supreme charter represented an advance for Brazilian society because it sought to safeguard the basic rights of the population. One of these rights made reference to education, which the document emphasizes is the right of all, and the State is responsible for offering it. The new LDB, implemented in 1996, came precisely to reinforce this right to education expressed in the constitution - it establishes the principles of education and the responsibility of the State in offering public school education in a system of collaboration among the federal, state, and municipal governments. The new law established a progressive extension of a mandatory and free mid-level degree education, established in Article 4 of Title III. Thus, according to the new law, the purposes of mid-level education are:

I - the consolidation and deepening of knowledge acquired in fundamental education, allowing continuation of studies;

II - basic preparation for work and citizenship of the student for learning to continue so as to be able to adapt with flexibility to new conditions of occupation or later refinement;

III - enhancement of the student as a human person, including ethical formation and development of intellectual autonomy and critical thinking;

IV - understanding of the scientific-technological foundations of production processes, relating theory to practice, in the teaching of each subject (BRASIL, 1996)31.

The fragment provided above indicates that the mid-level education does not have characteristics of a preparatory course and likewise does not have a bias toward mandatory vocational training as in Lei 5.692/71, but rather promotes preparation for continuity in studies, whether for continuing studies in higher education or for training on a technical level for exercising a profession, as well as education for exercising citizenship. In relation to this technical formation, article 36 states that,

§2 Mid-level education, having met the general training requirements of the students, will be able to prepare them for exercising technical professions.

§3 The courses of mid-level education will have legal equivalence and will qualify students for continuing studies.

§4 General preparation for work and, optionally, professional qualification, can be developed in the mid-level education establishments themselves or in cooperation with institutions specialized in professional education (BRASIL, 1996)32.

What we perceive in relation to that shown in the above citation is that, contrary to what was in Lei 5.692/71, there is a concern for general education/training, understanding that current mid-level education should be for all youth, providing possibilities for continuing studies, with professional qualification as a complementary level for those who have interest in technical education.

In analysis of mid-level education from the LDB 9394/96, the great evolution was the de-characterization of the duality of schooling present throughout the entire movement of the history of Brazilian education, thus enabling integral training for the students, providing for continuity in studies according to the needs of the student. A synthesis of the legislation regarding secondary education is shown in Chart 2 below.

Chart 2: Main legislation related to secondary education in Brazil 

Decreto nº 18.890 of 18 April 1931 - Francisco Campos Reform Decreto Lei 4.244 of 9 April 1942 -Capanema Reform Lei 4.024/61 of 20 December 1961 - Determines Guidelines and Foundations of National Education
Lei 5.692/71 of 11 August 1971 - 1st Degree and 2nd Degree Education Lei 9.694/96 of 20/12/1996 -
Establishes the Guidelines and Foundations of National Education
- Confers organic unity to school culture;
- Extension of course length from 5 to 7 years;
- Divided into two cycles:
Fundamental with 5-year duration of general education for all students
Complementary: with 2-year duration and propaedeutic for higher education;
- Implements mandatory attendance and graded structure.
- Establishes the four-year gymnasium cycle of general education and the three-year high school cycle, subdivided into two modalities: the classic course and the scientific course directed to preparation for higher education;
- Implementa-tion of admission courses;
- Emphasis on classical and humanistic education;
- Parallel offering of industrial, commercial, agricultural, and normal education of a vocational character for training laborers.
- Secondary education and technical-professional education are joined;
- New name: mid-level education;
- Humanist education declines;
- Implementation of a technical-scientific culture;
- Course of seven-year duration, with two cycles: gymnasium school, with four-year duration and high school with three-year duration;
- Mid-level education allows access to higher education for those that conclude this educational level.
Eliminates the differences between the branches of secondary education - agricultural, industrial, commercial, and normal;
- 2nd degree: main objective is vocational
- Obligation of offering vocational courses in public and private school network;
- Creates the 1st degree and 2nd degree level. New division:
1st degree joins the primary and gymnasium school for an eight-year course;
2nd degree with three-year course.
Emphasis on integral formation of the student;
- Consolidation and deepening of knowledge acquired in fundamental education;
- Legal equivalence for continuing to studies in higher education.
- Implementation of mid-level technical course together with mid-level education;
- The diplomas of mid-level professional-technical education courses qualify the student for continuing studies in higher education.

Source: Created by the authors.

The synthesis chart helps perceive the various changes that have affected this educational level, highlighting that in each historical context, the reforms implemented had the specific goals and interests of those who were in command in the country.

2.4. School institutions, curricula, and practices in secondary education in Brazil

There is vast production related to the history of educational institutions in regard to secondary education. Here, in a random manner, we have selected some references important for development of studies in respect to the topic.

A classic work that presents a discussion regarding educational programs is the book of Guy de Hollanda, “Um quarto de século de programas e compêndios de história para o ensino secundário brasileiro (1931-1956) [“A quarter century of programs and compendiums of history for Brazilian secondary education (1931-1956)]”, publishing by INEP in 1957. The book carries an analysis not only of the programs and compendiums for the subject of history, but also presents an examination of two important reforms of secondary education, the Francisco Campos Reform of 1931 and the Gustavo Capanema Reform of 1942, which, according to the author, are important for understanding the historical context of that time.

A collection of important sources published in 1998 by Ariclê Vechia and Karl Michael Lorenz entitled “Programa de Ensino da Escola Secundária Brasileira (1850-1951)” [Program of Brazilian Secondary School Education (1850-1951)”] gathers a collection of programs directed to secondary education in a period of 100 years. According to the organizers, fifteen of these programs were created by the Colégio Pedro II (Pedro II High School), indicating that from 1854 on, the preparatory exams should follow the model of this high school. The work adds in full all the programs, in which we can perceive the contents of each subject, as well as how the practical part should be elaborated, indicating a wide variety of exercises for establishing this content and determining the books to be used as educational resources.

In the book of Norberto Dallabrida, “A fabricação escolar das elites. O Ginásio Catarinense na Primeira República” (“The making of schooling of the elites. The Gymnasium School of Santa Catarina in the First Republic”), published in 2001, the author discusses the history of the Gymnasium School of Santa Catarina, founded in 1905 in Florianópolis, under the direction of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), directed to male education, in which the author also reflects on the role that the Gymnasium School of Santa Catarina had on the training of various generations of youth that passed through it.

The book organized by Ariclê Vechia and Maria Auxiliadora Cavazotti entitled “A escola secundária” (“The secondary school”), published in 2003, considers the curriculum of the secondary school and gathers texts that deal with models and plans for secondary education, from the period of the Empire to the Vargas period, which contributes a great deal to studies involving secondary education.

The book written by Rosa Fátima de Souza, “História da organização do trabalho escolar e do currículo no século XX. Ensino primário e secundário no Brasil” (“History of the organization of school work and of the curriculum in the 20th century. Primary and secondary education in Brazil”), published in 2008, presents three dimensions of the educational process: the level of the requirements, the school culture, and the debates waged in the educational field. In this perspective, the book carries a discussion regarding the legal provisions that regulated primary and secondary education, as well as the prescribed curricula that defined the organization of school work. In addition, questions related to the day-to-day life of the school can be discerned, such as teaching practices, school activities, rituals, auxiliary institutions, and parties and civil commemorations (2008).

The collection entitled “Tempo de cidade, lugar de escola. História, ensino e cultura escolar em ‘escolas exemplares’” (“The age of the city, the place of the school. History, education, and school culture in ‘model schools’”), organized by Eurize Caldas Pessanha and Décio Gatti Júnior, published in 2012, presents a set of important texts that assist in understanding the time at which model schools became references of excellence in training youth. The work is divided into three parts. The first is devoted to a discussion of studies on these model schools. In the second, the discussion takes an international perspective, which provides a glimpse of the reality of this level of education that goes beyond Brazilian territory. Finally, the third part undertakes a discussion on the school culture developed within the schools examined.

Another interesting study that contributes to understanding the relationship between purposes and practices in secondary education institutions is the publication of Giseli Cristina do Vale Gatti, “A escola e a vida na cidade. O Gymnásio Mineiro de Uberlândia (1929-1950)” [School and life in the city. The Minas Gerais Gymnasium School of Uberlandia (1929-1950)”], published in 2013, which shows the movement of civil society on behalf of setting up a secondary level school that would become a reference in the city of Uberlândia and in the Minas Triangle region through the education of important persons that held important positions on a local, regional, and even national level.

We also highlight another important reference prepared in two volumes and organized by Maria Helena Câmara Bastos, Alice Rigoni Jacques, and Dóris Bittencourt Almeida, entitled “Do Deutscher Hilfsverein ao Colégio Farroupilha/RS. Memórias e histórias (1858-2008)” [“From the Deutscher Hilfverein to the Farroupilha High School/RS. Memories and stories (1858-2008)”], with the first volume published in 2013 and the second in 2015, which display the historical path of this important educational institution, as well as its curriculum and school practices over one hundred and fifty years.

We also direct attention to the compilation of texts organized by Norberto Dallabrida and Rosa Fátima de Souza entitled “Entre o ginásio de elite e o colégio popular: estudos sobre o ensino secundário no Brasil (1931-1961)” [“Between the gymnasium school of the elite and popular high school: studies on secondary education in Brazil (1931-1961)”], published in 2014, which displays a period of the history of Brazilian secondary education manifesting transformations throughout its history, bringing up issues linked with educational legislation, as well as school practices.

Another important title of Norberto Dallabrida, with the name “Ensino secundário público e de qualidade no antigo Instituto de Educação - Florianópolis (1947-1963)” [“Public secondary education of quality in the old Education Institute - Florianopolis (1947-1963)”], published in 2017, discusses the historical path of the old Instituto de Educação, an initiative of the state government, which, in offering free education, allowed entry of the working class seeking upward social mobility.

Finally, we present the book organized by César Augusto Castro, “Ensino secundário no Brasil: perspectivas históricas” (“Secondary education in Brazil: historical perspectives”), published in 2019, which gathers various texts of researchers from various regions of Brazil, with presentation of the way this level of education is constituted as a historical object through examination of educational legislation, of school subjects, and of material culture, among so many other dimensions that are part of this universe of secondary school.

The works cited were only a small selection among so many others that deal with the theme of secondary education in Brazil and that contribute to an understanding of the purposes and practices of schools at this educational level.

2.5. Considerations on secondary education in Brazil

We can characterize the 1930s and 1960s as a period of consolidation and, at the same time, of redefinition of secondary education in Brazil. The two reforms implemented by the federal public authorities, both established during the government of Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (Francisco Campos Reform in 1931 and Capanema Reform in 1942), established the organizational structure and ratified the cultural project of training youth that would acclaim the model of secondary school in Brazil conceived as education of the guiding elites of the nation, favoring an overall uninterested culture of a highly selective character (SOUZA, 2008, p.145)33.

The process of urbanization and modernization of Brazilian society in the period of the Republic allowed accelerated growth in secondary education due to the new social, political, and economic situation stemming from the industrialization process. This new situation required a new look at this level of education that lacked organic unity, since each state made its own reform. In this perspective, the Francisco Campos Reform was important because it represented an evolution in that which would become the new structure of this level of education, with the purpose of doing away with preparatory examinations. Thus, there was centralization and homogenization of education on the part of the one who idealized the reform, something unprecedented up to then, and this was the basis of the other reforms that followed. The Capanema Reform, for its part, had a markedly nationalist character as a result of the new political regime put in place by Getúlio Vargas, of an authoritarian nature.

A question that arises in relation to both reforms is the selective and exclusionary character that distinguishes secondary education, because for an elite, it is an education that enables entry in higher education, and for the less privileged class, it is an education directed toward vocational training. This is even the case of reform 5.692/71, which deeply modified this educational level by unifying the old secondary course with the technical course, thus establishing a universal and compulsory vocational orientation. Nevertheless, this foray of the government of that time was not fruitful because the public system was not able to organize an adequate infrastructure to meet the needs of technical courses. In addition, the duality in education was still present because the compulsory vocational orientation was also a way of limiting the demand for higher education. The LDB of 1996 made greater flexibilization possible in secondary education, allowing the student to have access to higher education or to technical courses.

In the current perspective, it is noteworthy that this law contributed to ensuring the right of access of the whole population to free and quality education. However, education in the Brazilian context still lacks more effective measures in promoting quality education. In regard to the current mid-level education, we still encounter an exclusionary and selective level of education, because those who occupy the school desks experience an outdated educational system and a school space without adequate structure for provision of knowledge. The vast majority of young people depend on achieving this level of education to continue studies. In regard to public and governmental establishments, many students have given up because they are unmotivated or, especially, because of the pressing need to work. Thus, those that have greater purchasing power seek to study in private schools because it is possible to obtain greater success in their educational process and, consequently, better conditions for entry in professional positions. In short, although democratization has occurred in education, there is still the need to confront old problems that put integral training of youth in this phase of studies at risk. Furthermore, a lack of educational identity still characterizes this level of education in Brazil.

Final considerations

As a first point of comparison, it is important to go back to the period between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century when the political will takes shape of placing a stake in secondary education, understanding it to be, on the one hand, a complement to the effort of literacy on an international level and, on the other, an educational response to the classes with greater resources of allowing their children to continue studies. In this aspect, the educational policies of the Republic enabled a more consistent response.

A second point is that secondary education has always been imbued with a more technical aspect and another that is more academic. For the former, the pressure of the concept of progress and development was always important, which required “training of producers” able to ensure a fundamental mechanism of industrialization. In the case of the academic emphasis on the school population, the public service sectors or continuation to university or polytechnical studies was contemplated.

A third idea passes through ever more accentuated quantitative growth in the case of academic secondary education and more moderate growth in technical education, with the agricultural sector always being considered the poorest technical area, within a prevailing spirit that great specialization would not be necessary in this sector. In contrast, the services and trade sector was characterized as the most attractive.

In one case and in the other, reference to the changes observed after the Second World War is important, above all as a result of international organizations such as UNESCO and the OECD coming on scene, which led to important changes in the curriculum and instituted mechanisms for monitoring programs, contents, and results. On the one hand, these mechanisms develop characteristics that come to be common, but they also skew the educational identity of each country.

The 1970s and 1980s constituted times of particular significance for Portugal and Brazil, both in the political aspect of greater democratization of access to education, and also new language in the educational vocabulary. Greater concern for the individual education of the student is more prominent in a framework of abilities that broadened but also became more flexible to respond to the considerable changes in the world that surrounded students and for which they needed new cultural and educational “weapons”.

From the end of the 20th century on, there were also concerns for greater accessibility to secondary education and longer time in school on the part of countries that promote lengthening of mandatory schooling. This longer time in school clearly required rethinking contents and functions of this educational subsystem.

The present time has shown great stabilization in the role to be fulfilled by secondary education in Portugal, which is also the fruit of reorganization of higher education after the “Bolonha Reform” at the beginning of the 21st century. In the case of Brazil, there are sharp edges to smooth out and consensus to obtain so that educational policy related to what is called mid-level education finds a suitable path and stabilizes, fulfilling its social, educational, and cultural role.

REFERENCES

ABREU, Jayme. A Educação Secundária no Brasil [I - A Educação Secundária no Brasil (ensaio de identificação de suas características principais; II - Considerações sobre o Seminário Interamericano de Educação Secundária]. Publicação n.9. Rio de Janeiro: Cileme/INEP/MEC. 1955. [ Links ]

ABREU, Jayme. Ensino médio em geral e ensino secundário. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Pedagógicos. Rio de Janeiro, v.35, n.81, p.7-24, jan./mar. 1961. [ Links ]

ABREU, Jayme. Escola média no século XX: um fato novo em busca de caminhos. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Pedagógicos. Rio de Janeiro, v.36, n.83, p.5-26, jul./set. 1961. [ Links ]

ABREU, Jayme. Tendências antagônicas do ensino secundário brasileiro. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Pedagógicos. Rio de Janeiro, v.33, n.78, p.3-18, abr./jun. 1960. [ Links ]

ALVES, Luís Alberto Marques. História da Educação: uma introdução. Porto: Universidade do Porto. 2012. Disponível em: https://repositorio-aberto.up.pt/handle/10216/15150. Acesso 01 maio 2021. [ Links ]

ALVES, Luís Alberto Marques e PINTASSILGO, Joaquim (Orgs.). História da Educação. Fundamentos teóricos e metodologias de pesquisa: balanço da investigação portuguesa (2005-2014). Porto: Citcem/Histedup. 2015. [ Links ]

ALVES, Luís Alberto Marques; SOUSA, Pedro Rodrigues de; MORAIS, Teresa Torrinhas; ARAÚJO, Francisco Miguel Veloso. Ensino Técnico (1756-1973). Lisboa: Secretaria Geral do Ministério da Educação. 2009. [ Links ]

AZEVEDO, Joaquim (Org.). O Ensino Secundário em Portugal (Estudos). Lisboa: Conselho Nacional de Educação. 1999. [ Links ]

AZEVEDO, Joaquim. O ensino secundário na Europa: o neoprofissionalismo e o sistema educativo mundial. Porto: Edições ASA. 2000. [ Links ]

BARROSO, João. Organização e Gestão das Escolas Secundárias. Das tendências do passado às perspectivas do futuro. In: AZEVEDO, Joaquim (Org.). O Ensino Secundário em Portugal (Estudos). Lisboa: Conselho Nacional da Educação. p. 121-124. 1999. [ Links ]

BARROSO, João. Os Liceus. Organização Pedagógica e Administração (1836-1960). Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian; JNICT. 1995. [ Links ]

BASTOS, Maria Helena Camara; JACQUES, Alice Rigoni; ALMEIDA, Dóris Bittencourt (Orgs.). Do Deutscher Hilfsverein ao Colégio Farroupilha/RS. Memórias e histórias (1858-2008). Volume 1. Porto Alegre: Edipucrs. 2013. [ Links ]

BASTOS, Maria Helena Camara; JACQUES, Alice Rigoni; ALMEIDA, Dóris Bittencourt (Orgs.). Do Deutscher Hilfsverein ao Colégio Farroupilha/RS. Memórias e histórias (1858-2008). Volume 2. Porto Alegre: Edipucrs. 2015. [ Links ]

BRASIL. Decreto-Lei n. 4.244, de 9 de abril de 1942. Exposição de Motivos. Disponível em: https://www2.camara.leg.br/legin/fed/declei/1940-1949/decreto-lei-4244-9-abril-1942-414155-133712-pe.html. Acesso em: 11 jan. 2021. [ Links ]

BRASIL. IBGE - Conselho Nacional de Estatística. Anuário Estatístico do Brasil - 1956. Ano XVII. Disponível em: https://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/visualizacao/periodicos/20/aeb_1956.pdf. Acesso em: 15 fev. 2021. [ Links ]

BRASIL. Lei n. 5.692, de 11 de agosto de 1971. Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional Disponível em: https://www2.camara.leg.br/legin/fed/lei/1970-1979/lei-5692-11-agosto-1971-357752-norma-pl.html. Acesso em: 11 jan. 2021. [ Links ]

BRASIL. Lei n. 9.394, de 20 de dezembro de 1996. Lei de diretrizes e bases da educação nacional. Disponível em: http://portal.mec.gov.br/seesp/arquivos/pdf/lei9394_ldbn1.pdf. Acesso em: 11 jan. 2021. [ Links ]

BRASIL. Ministério da Educação e Cultura. Diretoria do Ensino Secundário. Seção de Prédios e Aparelhamento Escolar. Estabelecimentos do Ensino Secundário em Funcionamento no Brasil até 1959 (inclusive). Distrito Federal: MEC. 1959. [ Links ]

BRASIL. Ministério da Educação. Secretaria de Educação Profissional e Tecnológica. Educação Profissional Técnica de Nível Médio Integrada ao Ensino Médio. Documento Base. Brasília: MEC, 2007. Disponível em: http://portal.mec.gov.br/setec/arquivos/pdf/documento_base.pdf. Acesso em: 11 jan. 2021. [ Links ]

CAETANO, Francisco Perfeito. Escola de Artes Decorativas Soares dos Reis. O Ensino Técnico Artístico no Porto durante o Estado Novo (1948-1973). Porto: UPorto Editorial. 2012. [ Links ]

CAMPOS, Francisco. Exposição de Motivos do projeto de reforma de reforma do ensino secundário. In: Educação e cultura. Rio de Janeiro: Livraria José Olympio Editora. 1940. [ Links ]

CASTRO, César (Org). Ensino Secundário no Brasil: perspectivas históricas. São Luís: Edufma. 2019. [ Links ]

CURY, Carlos Roberto Jamil; TAMBINI, Maria Ignez S.B.; SALGADO, Maria Umbelina C.S.; AZZI, Sandra. A profissionalização do ensino na Lei 5.692/71 [Trabalho apresentado pelo INEP à XVIII Reunião Conjunta do Conselho Federal de Educação com os Conselhos Estaduais de Educação]. Brasília: INEP, 1982. [ Links ]

DALLABRIDA, Norberto. A fabricação escolar das elites. O Ginásio Catarinense na Primeira República. Florianópolis: Cidade Futura. 2001. [ Links ]

DALLABRIDA, Norberto. A Reforma Francisco Campos e a Modernização Nacionalizada do Ensino Secundário. Educação. Porto Alegre, v.32, n.2, p.185-191, 2009. [ Links ]

DALLABRIDA, Norberto. Ensino secundário público e de qualidade no antigo Instituto de Educação - Florianópolis (1947-1963). Florianópolis: Udesc; Dois por Quatro. 2017. [ Links ]

DALLABRIDA, Norberto; SOUZA, Rosa Fátima (Org.). Entre o ginásio de elite e o colégio popular: estudos sobre o Ensino Secundário no Brasil (1931-1961). Uberlândia: Edufu. 2014. [ Links ]

DALLABRIDA, Norberto; TREVIZOLI, Dayane Mezuram; VIEIRA, Letícia. As mudanças experimentadas pela cultura escolar no Ensino Secundário devido à implementação da Reforma Capanema de 1942 e da Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação de 1961. In: VIII COLÓQUIO ENSINO MÉDIO, HISTÓRIA E CIDADANIA. Anais. Florianópolis: Udesc. p.1-13. 2013. [ Links ]

DELGADO, Rui Nunes Proença. No Centenário da Escola Industrial Campos e Melo na Covilhã (1884-1984), Covilhã: Edição de autor. 1984. [ Links ]

DODSWORTH, Henrique. Cem Anos de Ensino Secundário no Brasil (1826-1926). Rio de Janeiro: INEP. 1968. [ Links ]

EMÍDIO, M. Tavares. “Ensino Secundário”. In: SILVA, Manuela e TAMEN, M. Isabel (Orgs.). Sistema de Ensino em Portugal. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. 1981. [ Links ]

FARIA FILHO, Luciano Mendes de. Escolarização, culturas e práticas escolares no Brasil: elementos teórico-metodológicos de um programa de pesquisa. In: LOPES, Alice Casimiro; MACEDO, Elizabeth. (Orgs). Disciplinas e Integração Curricular: história e políticas. Rio de Janeiro: DP&A. 2002. [ Links ]

FERNANDES, Domingos. Revisitando a Revisão Curricular (1997-2001): um contributo para pensar o futuro do Ensino Secundário. In: EDUCAÇÃO. Temas e Problemas, 2. Lisboa: Edições Colibri, p.129-158. 2006. [ Links ]

FERTUSINHOS, Eusébio (Org.). 133 Anos a desenhar o futuro. Braga: Edição da Escola Secundária Carlos Amarante. 2019. [ Links ]

GATTI, Giseli Cristina do Vale. A escola na vida da cidade. O Gymnásio Mineiro de Uberlândia (1929-1950). Uberlândia/MG: Edufu. 2013. [ Links ]

GATTI, Giseli Cristina do Vale; GATTI JR., Décio. A expansão do Ensino Secundário em Minas Gerais: estatísticas, legislação e historiografia (1942-1961). Rev. FAEEBA - Educação e Contemporaneidade. v.29, n.59, p.228-257. 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21879/faeeba2358-0194.2020.v29.n59.p228-257Links ]

GRÁCIO, Sérgio. Ensinos Técnicos e Política em Portugal 1910/1990, Lisboa: Instituto Piaget. 1998. [ Links ]

HOLLANDA, Guy de. Um quarto de século de programas e compêndios de história para o ensino secundário brasileiro (1931-1956). Rio de Janeiro: INEP/MEC. 1957. [ Links ]

JUSTINO, David. Difícil é Educá-los. Lisboa: Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos. 2010. [ Links ]

LOURA, Luísa Canto e Castro. Como aprendem os portugueses: escola, ensino básico e secundário e ensino superior. Lisboa: Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos. 2020. [ Links ]

MARTINHO, António Manuel Pelicano Matoso. A Escola Avelar Brotero 1884-1984. Contributo para a história do ensino técnico-profissional. Guarda: Edição do Autor. 1993. [ Links ]

NÓVOA, António e SANTA-CLARA, Ana Teresa (Orgs.). Liceus de Portugal. Histórias, Arquivos, Memórias. Porto: Edições ASA. 2003. [ Links ]

NUNES, Clarice. Escola e Dependência: o ensino secundário e a manutenção da ordem. Rio de Janeiro: Achiamé, 1979. [ Links ]

NUNES, Clarice. O “velho” e “bom” ensino secundário: momentos decisivos. Revista Brasileira de Educação. n.14. p.35-60. Mai.-Ago. 2000. Disponível em: https://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbedu/n14/n14a04.pdf. Acesso em: 01 mar. 2021. [ Links ]

Ó, Jorge Ramos do. Ensino Liceal (1836-1975). Lisboa: Secretária-geral do Ministério da Educação. 2009. [ Links ]

Ó, Jorge Ramos do. O governo de si mesmo. Modernidade Pedagógica e Encenações disciplinares do aluno liceal (último quarte do século XIX - meados do século XX). Lisboa: Educa. 2003. [ Links ]

OLIVEIRA, Alda M. PROENÇA de Figueiredo, António CARLOS. In: NÓVOA, António (Org.). Dicionário de Educadores Portugueses. Porto: Edições ASA. p.1123-1124. 2003. [ Links ]

PESSANHA, Eurize Caldas; ASSIS, Wanderlice da Silva; SILVA, Stella Sanches de Oliveira. História do Ensino Secundário no Brasil: o caminho para as fontes. Roteiro. v.42, n.2, p.311-330. mai./ago. 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18593/r.v42i2.12251Links ]

PESSANHA, Eurize Caldas; GATTI JR., Décio. Tempo de cidade, lugar de escola. História, ensino e cultura escolar em “escolas exemplares”. Uberlândia/MG: Edufu. 2012. [ Links ]

PIRES, Eurico Lemos. Lei de Bases do Sistema Educativo: apresentação e comentários. Porto: Edições ASA. 1987. [ Links ]

ROVAI, Alberto. Em nossa escola secundária, a escola, e não o aluno, é o centro da educação. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Pedagógicos. Rio de Janeiro, v.29, n.70, p.132-136, abr./jun. 1958. [ Links ]

ROVAI, Alberto. O ensino secundário no Brasil está longe de desempenhar a sua verdadeira missão. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Pedagógicos. Rio de Janeiro, v.27, n.66, p.224-228. abr./jun. 1957. [ Links ]

SCHWARTZMAN, Simon; BOMENY, Helena Maria Bousquet; COSTA, Vanda Maria Ribeiro. Tempos de Capanema. São Paulo: Edusp. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra. 1984. [ Links ]

SILVA, Geraldo Bastos. A Educação Secundária: perspectiva histórica e teoria. São Paulo: Editora Nacional. 1969. [ Links ]

SILVA, Geraldo Bastos. Introdução à Crítica do Ensino Secundário. Brasília: Cades; Ed. Conquista. 1959. [ Links ]

SILVA, Manuela e TAMEN, M. Isabel (Org.). Sistema de Ensino em Portugal. Lisboa, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. 1981. [ Links ]

SOUZA, Rosa Fátima de. História da organização escolar e do currículo no século XX. Ensino primário e secundário no Brasil. São Paulo: Editora Cortez. 2008. [ Links ]

TÉCNICA E HUMANISMO - REVISTA COMEMORATIVA DO 1º CENTENÁRIO DA ESCOLA SECUNDÁRIA CARLOS AMARANTE. Braga: Edição da Escola Secundária Carlos Amarante. 1985. [ Links ]

VECHIA, Ariclê; CAVAZOTTI, Maria Auxiliadora. A Escola Secundária: modelos e planos (Brasil, Séculos XIX e XX). São Paulo: Annablume. 2003. [ Links ]

VECHIA, Ariclê; LORENZ, Karl Michael (Orgs.). Programa de Ensino da Escola Secundária Brasileira (1850-1951). Curitiba: Ed. do Autor. 1998. [ Links ]

1The present article is linked to development of the project “A Comparative Perspective on Secondary Education: school historiography, legislation, institutions, and practices in Brazil and in Portugal in the 20th Century), coordinated by Prof. Dr. Giseli Cristina do Vale Gatti under number 424756/2018-8 in the scope of the public notice Chamada MCTIC/CNPq n.28/2018 - Universal. English version by Lloyd John Friedrich. E-mail: lloydfriedrich@hotmail.com.

2OLIVEIRA, Alda M. PROENÇA de Figueiredo, António CARLOS. In: NÓVOA, António (Org.). Dicionário de Educadores Portugueses. Porto: Edições ASA, p.1123-1124. 2003.

3BARROSO, João. Organização e Gestão das Escolas Secundárias. Das tendências do passado às perspectivas do futuro. In: AZEVEDO, Joaquim (Org.). O Ensino Secundário em Portugal (Estudos). Lisboa: Conselho Nacional da Educação. p.121-124. 1999.

4Idem.

5Relatório da reforma do Ensino Técnico de 1º. de dezembro de 1918. In. ALVES, Luís Alberto Marques; SOUSA, Pedro Rodrigues de; MORAIS, Teresa Torrinhas; e ARAÚJO, Francisco Miguel Veloso. Ensino Técnico (1756-1973). Lisboa: Secretaria Geral do Ministério da Educação. p.111. 2009.

6“Academic education will simultaneously take on a humanist, educational, and life-preparation character by the determination, arrangement, and content of the subjects, by selection of the methods, and by use of other suitable means.” Decreto-Lei nº 36 507 de 17 de setembro de 1947. In. Diário do Governo, n.216, Iª Série, p.884.

7“The reform foresaw three types of courses, both for the daytime regime and for the nighttime regime: training courses, 3 or 4 hours in the day, for the candidates with the cycle and at most 16 years of age at the beginning of the school year; complementary learning courses that should be attended in parallel “and in correlation with vocational initiation to ensure fitting aptitude” and for persons that had a minimum age of 13 years by the beginning of the school year; specialization courses of 1 year that prolonged the basic courses, substituting their final years, common to various professions, and operating either in a training system or in a refinement system. In addition, there were qualification courses for workers that require a complement to general and technical instruction to exercise the functions of foreman, masters, and heads of workshops. In some schools, there were even preparatory courses for industrial and commercial institutes. The main innovation of the reform of 1948, however, consisted in introduction of the preparatory cycle of technical education, with two years of length and directed to “general education and pre-learning”, “with characteristics of a vocational direction”. In. ALVES, Luís Alberto Marques. História da Educação: uma introdução. Porto: Universidade do Porto. Faculdade de Letras. Biblioteca Digital. p.83-84. 2012. Retrieved from: https://repositorio-aberto.up.pt/handle/10216/15150. Accessed on 1 July 2021

8This is the case of EMÍDIO, M. Tavares. Ensino Secundário. In. SILVA, Manuela e TAMEN, M. Isabel (Org.). Sistema de Ensino em Portugal. Lisboa, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, p.190-221. 1981.

9Idem.

10Idem.

11The preamble of the legislative order nº 194-A/83 reads as follows: “The educational policies of the government give priority to the institutionalization of a structure of vocational education in secondary school through an emergency plan for reorganization of technical education that allows the needs of the country for qualified labors to be met, as well as progress in policies of employment for youth”. Diário do Governo, n.243, Iª série, 21 de outubro de 1983, p.3668(1).

12“Secondary education that includes the 10th, 11th, and 12th years of schooling represents a qualitative change in relation to basic education [...]. On the one hand, education is no longer general and in common [...] and comes to be specialized and diversified. Additionally, the entire secondary education has an essential concern for preparation for active life [...] this preparation is based on deep technological training. Technology is seen as integration of scientific knowledge and its humanistic root in a perspective of essential contemporary culture.” In: PIRES, Eurico Lemos. Lei de Bases do Sistema Educativo: apresentação e comentários. Porto: Edições ASA. p.52. 1987.

13AZEVEDO, Joaquim (Org.). O Ensino Secundário em Portugal - Estudos. Lisboa: Conselho Nacional de Educação. p.11. 1999.

14BARROSO, João. Organização e Gestão das Escolas Secundárias. Das tendências do passado às perspectivas do futuro. In AZEVEDO, Joaquim (Org.). O Ensino Secundário em Portugal (Estudos). Lisboa: Conselho Nacional da Educação. p.130. 1999.

15There is an excellent text of Domingos Fernandes that analyzes this process: FERNANDES, Domingos. Revisitando a Revisão Curricular (1997-2001): um contributo para pensar o futuro do Ensino Secundário. In: EDUCAÇÃO. Temas e Problemas, 2. Lisboa: Edições Colibri, p.129-158. 2006.

16ALVES, Luís Alberto Marques and PINTASSILGO, Joaquim (Orgs.). História da Educação. Fundamentos teóricos e metodologias de pesquisa: balanço da investigação portuguesa (2005-2014). Porto: Citcem/Histedup. 2015.

17The data used here were taken from LOURA, Luísa Canto e Castro. Como aprendem os portugueses: escola, ensino básico e secundário e ensino superior. Lisboa: Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos. 2020.

18Ibidem.

19FARIA FILHO. Luciano Mendes de. Escolarização, culturas e práticas escolares no Brasil: elementos teórico-metodológicos de um programa de pesquisa. In: LOPES, Alice Casimiro; MACEDO, Elizabeth. (Orgs.). Disciplinas e integração curricular: história e políticas. Rio de Janeiro: DP&A. 2002.

20SILVA, Geraldo Bastos. A Educação Secundária: perspectiva histórica e teoria. São Paulo: Editora Nacional. 1969.

21Ibidem.

22PESSANHA, Eurize Caldas; ASSIS, Wanderlice da Silva; SILVA, Stella Sanches de Oliveira. História do Ensino Secundário no Brasil: o caminho para as fontes. Roteiro. v.42, n.2, p.311-330. mai./ago. 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18593/r.v42i2.12251

23DALLABRIDA, Norberto. A Reforma Francisco Campos e a Modernização Nacionalizada do Ensino Secundário. Educação. Porto Alegre, v.32, n.2, p.185-191, 2009.

24BRASIL. Decreto-Lei n.4.244, de 9 de abril de 1942. Exposição de Motivos. Retrieved from: https://www2.camara.leg.br/legin/fed/declei/1940-1949/decreto-lei-4244-9-abril-1942-414155-133712-pe.html. Accessed on 11 Jan. 2021.

25Ibidem.

26DALLABRIDA, Norberto; TREVIZOLI, Dayane Mezuram; VIEIRA, Letícia. As mudanças experimentadas pela cultura escolar no Ensino Secundário devido à implementação da Reforma Capanema de 1942 e da Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação de 1961. In: VIII COLÓQUIO ENSINO MÉDIO, HISTÓRIA E CIDADANIA. Anais. Florianópolis: Udesc. p.01-13. 2013.

27BRASIL. Lei n. 5.692, de 11 de agosto de 1971. Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional. Retrieved from: https://www2.camara.leg.br/legin/fed/lei/1970-1979/lei-5692-11-agosto-1971-357752-norma-pl.html. Accessed on 11 Jan. 2021.

28CURY, Carlos Roberto Jamil; TAMBINI, Maria Ignez S.B.; SALGADO, Maria Umbelina C.S.; AZZI, Sandra. A profissionalização do ensino na Lei 5.692/71 [Study presented by INEP to the XVIII Joint Meeting of the Federal Education Council with the State Education Councils]. Brasília: INEP, 1982.

29BRASIL. Ministério da Educação. Secretaria de Educação Profissional e Tecnológica. Educação Profissional Técnica de Nível Médio Integrada ao Ensino Médio. Documento Base. Brasília: MEC, 2007. Retrieved from: http://portal.mec.gov.br/setec/arquivos/pdf/documento_base.pdf. Accessed on 11 Jan. 2021.

30Ibidem.

31BRASIL. Lei n. 9.394, de 20 de dezembro de 1996. Lei de diretrizes e bases da educação nacional. Retrieved from: http://portal.mec.gov.br/seesp/arquivos/pdf/lei9394_ldbn1.pdf. Accessed on 11 Jan. 2021.

32Ibidem.

33SOUZA, Rosa Fátima de. História da Organização Escolar e do Currículo no Século XX. Ensino primário e secundário no Brasil. São Paulo: Editora Cortez. 2008.

Received: June 10, 2021; Accepted: August 07, 2021

Creative Commons License Este é um artigo publicado em acesso aberto sob uma licença Creative Commons