Work and Professional Education

A Marxist Look

Abstract

In the context of exploitation of the workforce by capital, it is essential to understand the role of professional qualification. In this sense, this article discusses the concept of Work presented by the brazilian prescribed curriculum of Technical Professional Education at High School (TPEHS), based on the theoretical and methodological assumptions developed by Karl Marx. The curricular documents pointed to an attempt to overcome the duality between propaedeutic training and technical professional training, in addition to presenting the concept of work as an essential foundation of the subject while as an ontological, historical and social being. However, the curriculum is designed based on a market logic and understands the specialized training of workers as a way to attend economic demands and, consequently, that reproduces and maintains the status quo of capital, not being consistent with the idea of work stated by the TPEHS normative documents.