In this article, adolescent apprentices' expectations for the future were discussed. The study included 16 subjects aged 14 to 18 years old, both male and female, from Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem do Comércio Administrative Services course. A qualitative methodology including individual and collective semi-structured interviews was used. Thematic analysis technique was used to analyze data. The speeches show that the adolescents yearn for higher education professions as well high school professions, and that the program can help them to achieve such expectations through experience and discipline. Their subjectivity is seen as a residue of the production process of a society, modeled under the logic of capital, so that when they are trained for the world of work, the subjects seem to be incapable of assigning a new meaning to their dreams and wishes; and they do not perceive that these also form part of the relationship with the social world, thus concealing the structural causes of their success and failure.
Learning; Future expectations; Professional development