Work and vocational education: reflecting on the concepts of technique and technology

Abstract

This paper addresses the relationship between the theme of work and the Vocational Education. The research problem arises from the social need to understand manual jobs also as holders of complex knowledge. The objectives involve: (i) differentiating the understanding of the concepts of technique and technology in their common use and in the context of Vocational and Technological Education; and (ii) recognizing the importance of all professions, including manual ones. As it aims to generate knowledge in order to solve specific problems, the nature of this research is applied. With regard to the technical procedures, the research is configured as bibliographic and documentary, involving authors and documents that assume that Vocational Education is identified as qualification for work. The results point to the importance of qualifying workers as agents of social transformation.