Narrativas de formação de tecnólogos em gastronomia : educação, trabalho e experiência.

Abstract

The present paper is the result of a research about formation narratives of Gastronomy technologists. The problem was lined by the following question: according to the narratives of graduate workers of UNISC’s Gastronomy technologist undergraduate program, what and where do the undergraduate experiences occur, and how are they defined and /or resignified by the subjects? The study had as specific goals: reflect on the relation among job, experience and degree, considering: a)the historical aspects of college degree in gastronomy in Brazil and at UNISC; b)the graduates profile and their expectations before, during and after their experience in the higher education; Understand the graduate employees’ narratives about formative experiences in the university and the professional acting space; Analyze the expectations and conditioning of these graduates according to the professional formation process, identifying their main agents and occurrence spaces inside and outside the university. Methodologically, the research developed as a qualitative study, using as main instruments the semistructured interviews and the internship reports of eight graduates from UNISC (Universidade de Santa Cruz do Sul) Technology in Gastronomy higher education course. Theoretically, the investigation had been settled in the concepts of Work and Professional Education (SAVIANI, 1994, 2009; CATANI; OLIVEIRA; DOURADO, 2001; QUEVEDO, 2011; MANFREDI, 2002;); Formation and Experience (SCHWARTZ, 2010; SANTOS; DINIZ, 2003; TARDIF, 2014; JOSSO, 1999; THOMPSON, 1981; PEREIRA, 2013.). The approach used elements of the (auto)biographic narrative in Education (CUNHA, 1997; ABRAHÃO, BOTÍA, 2014; JOSSO, 1999; SOUZA 2006). With the research it was possible to understand that the formation of the graduates in the Gastronomy course occurs in different spaces and moments, in a perennial way, especially when the academic students can articulate and give meaning to their knowledge in and through the practice. This formation occurs in and out of the university, in formal and informal spaces of education. These spaces include all the university and curriculum scopes, the classes involving theory and practice, the contacts with the extension and research. They also integrate, in a special way, the curricular internships and the experiences of the subjects in the most diverse labor spaces. It may also integrate the moment of their own production and reflection during or after the process, in instruments of (auto)biographic character that require a certain distance from themselves and stimulate and/or produce transformation. The main expectations before and during the course were related to the practicing experiences, the moment to put into practice. According to the graduates, despite the practice being present during the whole course in the schedule destined to the practicing classes, not always are they capable of bringing or presenting to the students the complexities, the different agents, tensions or unforseen events that also occur in the everyday living at work, and that also contribute to their formation.