Academic and employment background of young university students: the meanings of work and education

Abstract

This study has examined how the academic and employment background of young university graduates of the Faculty of Education at the University of Vale do Itajai also aimed to investigate which are the meanings that attach to education and to work, in a new ethics beyond of the work which requires intense transformations in times of uncertainty. The methodology selected to develop this study was the qualitative approach that was conducted through individual interviews with six (6) young university students. The results showed that there is a diversity of the meanings of the work and of the education attributed by these youngsters placed in their field of action that is the education. In their perceptions, mixed senses of self esteem, identity forming, new learning, utility, promotes relationship, building, future, interaction, senses that blend and intersect, resulting in diversity. In this sense, thinking public policies for the youth equals to plan from this diversity, as well as to reflect a possible redefinition of education that must be based on a formation that surpasses the mere skills for the labor market, but from the perspective of a human formation, which includes, besides of the intellectual development, the cognitive, also the technological knowledge, the artistic, the affective and the emotional.