An unprecedented study released yesterday by the Todos Pela Educação movement reveals that the state education network in Rio Grande do Sul lost 51% of teachers hired between 2013 and 2023, while the hiring of temporary teachers grew 17% in the period. In total, RS lost 17,790 permanent teachers, while the number of temporary contracts grew by 3,165.
The study, which used data from the National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (Inep), also reveals that, in 2023, 41% of teachers in the state network were permanent, while 59% were temporary. With these numbers, the State is the ninth with the fewest permanent teachers. Only five states have more than 90% of effective teachers: Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Pará, Bahia and Amazonas.
In Rio Grande do Sul, the number of certified teachers is below the national average, which in 2023 was 46.5% permanent and 51.6% temporary, when state networks had 356 thousand temporary teachers and 321 thousand permanent teachers. In 2013, the percentages were 31.1% of contracted employees and 68.4% of civil servants in Brazil. It was in 2022 that the number of contractors exceeded the number of permanent employees.
Mauro Amaral, general director of Cpers/Union in the region, argues that access to a career in teaching and public service as a whole must be through a competition. “The research shows what Cpers has long denounced and demanded, that the State government has not carried out public competitions”, he says, evaluating that recent selection processes are insufficient.
National scenario
According to the study, the increase in temporary hiring is one of the main reasons for the growth in the general number of teachers in state networks in recent years. Between 2020 and 2023, for example, there was an increase of almost 30 thousand professionals in the networks’ teaching staff. Despite this, throughout the decade, the overall number of teachers decreased by 57 thousand teachers – a movement in line with the decrease in enrollment in Basic Education.
The manager of Educational Policies at Todos Pela Educação, Ivan Gontijo, considers that hiring temporary teachers is important so that education networks can maintain a complete staff of teachers. “However, this type of hiring should be an exception, to be used in specific cases provided for in the legislation, but what we see is that it has become the rule in state education networks,” he says. “This can have negative impacts on Education, especially when it is observed that in many networks the quality of selection, allocation, remuneration and training policies for these professionals is low”, points out Gontijo.
The study also presents a profile of temporary teachers in state networks. The data shows that the average age of these professionals was 40 years old, compared to 46 years old for permanent employees. The research shows that almost half (43.6%) of temporary employees have been working as teachers for at least 11 years, which indicates that this type of hiring is used not only to meet a specific demand, but also to form part of the permanent teaching staff of some states.
What does Seduc say
According to the State Department of Education (Seduc), this year’s data is already different from last year, and of the 49,272 teachers, 53% are permanent and 47% are temporary. Seduc explains that the competitions held should change this scenario. In February, 1,300 teachers were appointed following a competition held last year. In the second half of this year, there will be a competition for three thousand vacancies in the second half of this year, in addition to there being plans for another competition with another three thousand vacancies in 2025.
