REDE FEDERAL DE EDUCAÇÃO PROFISSIONAL, CIENTÍFICA E TECNOLÓGICA: QUASE DOIS SÉCULOS MUDANDO O BRASIL

Abstract

The work presents a historical and analytical overview of the formation and evolution of the Federal Network of Professional, Scientific, and Technological Education in Brazil, beginning with the creation of the Schools of Artisan Apprentices in 1909. Initially aimed at providing vocational training for young people “unfavored by fortune,” these institutions underwent various reconfigurations throughout the 20th century, keeping pace with the country’s political, economic, and social changes. Successive regulations, such as those of 1911 and 1918, sought to standardize the school structure, but each institution developed its own practices according to regional productive demands.

Over the following decades, Brazil’s industrial expansion drove restructuring and growth efforts within the schools, resulting in key milestones such as the establishment of the Ministry of Education in 1930, the reorganization of the institutions into Industrial Lyceums, the structuring of the Federal Network in 1942, and the consolidation of Technical and Agrotechnical Schools. The period from the 1950s to the 1980s was marked by student mobilization, planned expansion, and the creation of new units, although not always at the pace projected by governmental policies.

From the 1990s onward, with the processes of “cefetization” and later “ifetization,” the institutions significantly broadened their scope, including offering higher education, postgraduate programs, and the consolidation of the Federal Institutes. The expansion of the 2000s marked the process of interiorization and diversification of the fields served. Today, the Federal Network consists of hundreds of units distributed across the country and continues to expand its capillarity, representing a historical, educational, and architectural heritage collectively built by staff, students, and local communities.