This paper analyses the representations by secondary school students and teachers, aiming to identify their motivations, perspectives and needs, as well as relations between education and work. The data were analyzed on the basis of the main "orthodoxical" and "hetherodoxical" theories on the relations among education, occupation, and earnings. This work compares data from two research projects: 1) a survey of students and teachers at the largest adult education school in the Federal District; 2) a survey of all the students who voluntarily participated in the National Secondary Education Exam - 2004. The former was sampling-based, whereas the latter covered all the participants. In both cases data were collected by a questionnaire. Results indicate the existence of a social gap between regular secondary education and adult education at the same level. While the students of the latter often left the school as a result of the need to work, they re-started their education for meeting work demands. However, adult education is less severe and to some extent paternalist. The second population included youths mostly interested in higher education, often with difficulties to select a program related to an occupation. In both cases their vision on the school was predominantly positive. Furthermore, in spite of the average higher level of schooling, entry of youths into the world of work has been increasingly difficult and occurs latter. These are some factors that lead secondary education to reach progressive universalization. Theoretical approaches and empirical results suggest the importance of the "hetherodoxical" perspectives, with emphasis to the concepts of educational inflation and credentialism.
Representations; Secondary education; Locational education; Adult education; Brazil