Youth, technical school and work Schooling experiences in urban poverty contexts (Rosario, Santa Fe)

Abstract

In this paper we retrieve the work carried out under two collective research projects, both enrolled in a research line focused on socio-educational processes in contexts of poverty and various forms of violence in Rosario city (Santa Fe, Argentina) and  driven by a socio-anthropological approach (Achilli, 2005).

We analyze the relationship between technical school and work in the experiences of young people living in contexts of urban poverty: the meanings of schooling and its connection with work from the perspective of young people; the senses about professional technical modality; the sustaining of schooling in articulation with their living conditions. We maintain that young people arrive at this school for various reasons, not necessarily linked to the choice of the technical-professional modality in administration and management, however, knowledge and assessment of it is built throughout the school experience with heterogeneous senses. These senses are strongly crossed by the link established between education and work, in terms of enabling access to better living conditions.