Bringing Together University and Technical School: Lessons Learned with the Promotion of Research in Vocational High School

Abstract

The article describes a monitoring study of the results about the activities from an ongoing project between the university and technical school, since 2011 in the Vale do Ribeira-SP. This project connects professors of the Psychology Institute at USP, teachers and students of technical schools, located in Registro and Iguape districts in the region. In order to collect data about the effects of the project from the class of students in 2012, methods used included questionnaires with teachers of technical schools, focal groups discussion with students, reading reports prepared by them and video recordings about their narratives. Data analysis prioritized the training and personal gains of students who took part in the project in 2012, describing their performance and progress. The monitoring study showed that participation in the project favored academic and relational acquisitions of students, contributing to the improvement on their reading and writing skills, to be able to better organize the study materials, expand their capacity to work in teams and to respect deadlines for carrying out activities. The article discusses the potential of such initiatives to promote the interchange between university and public school and the integration between research and university extension