Interview with Rosemary Dore Heijmans – From the “pulo da rã” to facing school dropout

Abstract

This paper results from an interview with professor Rosemary Dore Heijmans, in Cabedelo, Paraíba, Brazil, as part of the Brazilian Association for the Prevention of School Dropout in Basic, Professional and Higher Education’s history log; it also helped to create content for the VII Colóquio Internacional sobre Educação Profissional e Evasão Escolar (International Colloquium on Professional Education and School Dropout) and the V Workshop de Educação Profissional e Evasão Escolar (Workshop on Professional Education and School Dropout), which will be hosted by the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Santa Catarina (IFSC) in November 2022. This interview also aims to reflect on and discuss school dropout in professional and technical education from Rosemary’s point of view, considering her participation in the student movement during the military rule, her experience with the regional industry in face of the foreign multinational corporations’ protectionism, her student years coming from a private religious school to the public education system, her Gramsci-oriented research on the relationship between professional and technical education and dropout rates, and her work articulating and creating the ABAPEVE. The interview that led to this paper was not unbiased and does not intend to present the subject in its whole.