THE PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICE OF SUSTAINABILITY FOR TRANSDISCIPLINARITY IN VOCATIONAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATION (VTE)

ABSTRACT:

This article emerges from concerns about the trajectory and potential of Vocational and Technological Education (VTE) in Brazil at a crucial moment in human history, the Age of Complexity, in which we have rapid transformations in the production ways and severe environmental implications. Some studies show that, in a few decades, people will not have only one profession; there will be a constant creation and disappearance of several occupations. Thus, there are predictions that, by 2050, a new class of people will emerge: the “unemployable”. Furthermore, social and economic problems certainly will cause environmental problems, which are at the core of sustainability. Considering this new scenario, since 2000, there have been worldwide efforts to achieve sustainable development goals, initially with eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and, later, seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this context, the objective of this article is to analyze sustainability practices as a possible way to achieve transdisciplinarity in VTE. Therefore, we discussed the concepts and peculiarities of VTE, transdisciplinarity, and sustainability. In an accelerated moment of transformations motivated by the Covid-19 pandemic, it is urgent to change the VTE project to keep up with the rapid changes in technology and economic, social, political, and cultural relations. We must take advantage of this unique moment in human history to remodel VTE contents and methodologies.

Keywords:
integrated curriculum; continuing education for teachers; paradigm of complexity; active methodologies; sustainability; transdisciplinarity