A formação do técnico em enfermagem na Escola Técnica de Saúde da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (1972-1986)

Abstract

This research addresses the process of creation and consolidation of the Carlos Chagas Technical School of Nursing (Escola Técnica de Enfermagem Carlos Chagas – ETECC), currently the Technical School of Health of the Federal University of Uberlândia (Escola Técnica de Saúde da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia – ESTES), within the context of educational and health policies implemented during the Brazilian military regime (1964–1985). The study assumes that the expansion of technical nursing education was part of a broader movement to reorganize vocational education and the training of health workers promoted by the Brazilian State, articulated with demands for economic modernization, the expansion of health services, and workforce qualification. The objective of the study is to analyze how the educational and health policies of the period influenced the creation of the institution and the organization of the training of nursing assistants and technicians in the Triângulo Mineiro region. Methodologically, this is a qualitative study of a bibliographic and documentary nature, grounded in historical-dialectical materialism. Educational and health legislation, institutional documents, historical records, public archives, and specialized literature on vocational education, nursing, and public policies were analyzed. The results demonstrate that the creation of ETECC was directly related to technicist educational reforms and state strategies for training human resources for the health sector, constituting a regional expression of national policies aimed at expanding technical education. The research also demonstrates that the institution's trajectory was marked by contradictions inherent in the expansion of vocational education during the military dictatorship: while it expanded opportunities for professional qualification and entry into the labor market, it also reproduced educational approaches guided by technical rationality and the fragmentation of educational processes. Throughout its trajectory, however, the institution expanded its social functions, becoming a regional reference in the training of health professionals and contributing to the strengthening of the healthcare network in the Triângulo Mineiro region. It is concluded that the history of ESTES reveals the close articulation between education, work, and health, contributing to an understanding of the processes of institutionalization of vocational health education in Brazil, as well as to the preservation of the memory of training institutions and to the debate on public policies for vocational education.

Keywords: history of education; vocational education; technical health education; military dictatorship.