The theme of transitions from higher education into professional environment has been taking a growing social visibility lately, and difficulties in employment access by higher education graduates have been highlighted. In the Portuguese context, graduates from a first degree in Teaching (that allows them to teach in secondary schools) have been pointed out as groups for whom the difficulties in employment access are extremely significant. Therefore, it is particularly interesting to study the educational and professional pathways of graduates that finished a first degree in teaching in order to understand more deeply the transitions between universities and the world of work and the aspects of access to employment and learning involved in those transitions. Following the research work we have been developing in the latest years on the transitions between higher education and the world of work, this paper intends to present some data coming from a questionnaire that aimed at studying the professional and academic pathways of a group of graduates from our university (graduates that finished a first degree in Teacher of Biology and Geology).

The paper is based on data coming from a questionnaire answered in 2007 by graduates from a first degree in Teaching of Biology and Geology in our university that have finished their degree between the academic years of 2001/02 e 2004/05. We will also take into account results coming from previous research projects, as well as when possible we compare those results with data from other research work done abroad (namely in France and United Kingdom).

Do the graduates find jobs as teachers? What are the alternative occupations when they do not find jobs as teachers? What is the profile of the graduates that have more successful professional pathways? What features of the academic pathways can be linked with more successful professional pathways? Do other learning contexts, besides the university, seem to be important in the transition to the world of work? The findings suggest preliminary responses to those questions and enable us (1) to reflect up on the role of higher education in what concerns the employability of its graduates and (2) to deep our understanding on the links between, on one hand, learning that occurs during academic trajectories and, on the other hand, the professional pathways of graduates.