INTEGRATED CURRICULUM IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION: A HUMANIZING APPROACH

Abstract

This article aimed to analyze the contributions, challenges, and limitations of the integrated curriculum as a strategy for the comprehensive education of students in secondary-level vocational and technical education. The research addressed the topic of curricular articulation oriented toward human emancipation, discussing its formative possibilities and the obstacles that compromise its implementation as a pedagogical practice. To this end, the research was based on a bibliographical approach, supported by authors who address curricular integration and the humanization of vocational education, with emphasis on texts produced between 2020 and 2024. The selected sources allowed us to examine the concept of the integrated curriculum as a mediation between school knowledge and social experiences, as well as the structural, political, and pedagogical limitations that hindered overcoming the fragmented teaching model. It was found that, although there are discourses in favor of expanded and critical education, practices marked by instrumentalization, technicality, and institutional discontinuity persist. In summary, the conclusion was that implementing an inclusive curriculum required restructuring pedagogical work, the institution's ethical and political commitment, and the recognition of students as historical subjects. As a result, the study highlighted the need for further research on the impacts of educational policies on curricular organization and on the concrete conditions for implementing humanizing educational practices.