Ensino Profissional: Heranças do passado, constrangimentos do presente, desafios para o futuro

Vocational Education, created in Portugal at the end of the 1980s, in the aftermath of the Revolution of the 25th of April 1974, still faces some constraints today, namely, the stigmatisation associated with unsuccessful school paths and the disadvantaged socioeconomic context of many students. However, the role of this education subsystem in the democratisation of access to Education and its contribution to social mobility, as well as to the construction of a fairer and more inclusive society in the light of Human Rights, stands out as envisioned by international guidelines and defended by the ideals of April. The article presents a narrative review of the literature, complemented by documentary analysis. It aims to contextualise Vocational Education in its historical, sociological and political-educational dimensions and critically reflect on issues related to its image and the processes of social exclusion and inclusion associated with it. Structured in past, present and future spaces, the text relates the received legacies to the faced constraints and the proposed challenges, considering that a historically and sociologically anchored approach leads to the problematisation of the associated phenomena. It is concluded that this is a complex and multidimensional field of analysis, requiring an inter and transdisciplinary discussion.