This work deals with the issue of the academic orientation of secondary school pupils that are taking part in the Scientific Vocation Programme (Provoc). Created in 1986 by Fiocruz, Provoc established itself as an educational model for the early stages of scientific learning. Its work in this field has gone beyond the limits of the Manguinhos campus in Rio de Janeiro and spread to a number of other research institutions in this country. The objective here is to put forward a proposal for an institutional project in which researchers from well known scientific institutions will provide guidance for those young people that have not yet made their professional choices. The strategic relevance of this type of institutional programme has encouraged a large number of the Programme's researchers-tutors to reflect upon issues and problems that - so far - had only been approached by educational experts. The ensuing discussions have often led to the formulation of pedagogical proposals that can be assessed by the very actors involved in the process of the Programme's consolidation and expansion. It is not a question of analysing the quantitative results per se, but the arguments that have guided the researchers' actions. We will be attempting to understand both the general principles that guided Provoc's institutionalisation, and how, why and in which specific cultural contexts the concepts of scientific initiation at the Secondary Level may be built.
education in the sciences; scientific initiation; secondary level; academic orientation; professional orientation