Eight out of ten basic education teachers have already thought about giving up their career. Reasons include low financial return, lack of professional recognition, excessive workload and lack of interest from students. The data comes from the unprecedented research Profile and Challenges of Basic Education Teachers in Brazil, released this Wednesday (8), by the Semesp Institute.
The research was carried out between March 18 and 31, 2024, with 444 teachers from public and private schools, from kindergarten to high school, from all regions of the country. The data shows that 79.4% of the teachers interviewed have already thought about giving up their teaching career. Regarding their professional future, 67.6% feel insecure, discouraged and frustrated.
Among the main challenges cited by teachers are: lack of career appreciation and stimulation (74.8%), lack of discipline and student interest (62.8%), lack of support and recognition from society (61.3%) and lack of involvement and participation of students’ families (59%).
According to survey data, more than half of the respondents (52.3%) say they have already experienced some type of violence while working as a teacher. The most reported types of violence are verbal aggression (46.2%), intimidation (23.1%) and moral harassment (17.1%). Racism and racial insults, gender-based violence and even threats of aggression and death are also mentioned. Violence is committed mainly by students (44.3%), students and guardians (23%) and school staff (16.1%).
Despite this, the survey shows that the majority (53.6%) of basic education teachers are satisfied or very satisfied with their career. Teachers point out as reasons for remaining in the classroom, mainly, the interest in teaching and sharing knowledge (59.7%), the satisfaction of seeing students’ progress (35.4%) and their own vocation (30.9 %).
“Despite all the problems, this is what I like to do and I have the greatest ability”, says one of the teachers interviewed, whose name was not revealed. “The passion for the process of teaching and learning, contributing to people’s evolution”, points out another, who was also not identified.
For Lúcia Teixeira, president of Semesp, an entity that represents higher education providers in Brazil, this data is important because it shows what motivates teachers. “He talks about his vocation. He talks about the interest in teaching, the satisfaction of seeing the student’s progress. These are factors that are interconnected. Both the vocation and the interest in sharing knowledge and the satisfaction of seeing the student’s progress. This is very important information in terms of the profile of those who choose to be a teacher”, highlights
Degrees
The Profile and Challenges of Basic Education Teachers in Brazil survey is part of the 14th edition of the Higher Education Map in Brazil, which brings together official data collected by the Semesp Institute to outline the current scenario of the educational sector in the country. This edition’s main focus is Degree Courses: Scenarios and Perspectives.
According to the publication, Brazil has 9.44 million students enrolled in higher education. The majority of them are in private institutions (78%). By law, according to the National Education Plan (PNE), by 2024, the country should have 33% of young people aged 18 to 24 enrolled in higher education. By 2022, this rate was 18.9%.
Currently, 17% of higher education students pursue a degree, which is equivalent to 1.67 million university students. Pedagogy appears as the 17th course with the most students in face-to-face daytime courses and as the first course with the most students in distance learning (EAD).
Despite the large number of students, data shows that dropouts in these courses are high. Around 60% of undergraduate students in the private network and 40% of students in the public network drop out of training. Among younger people, only 6.6% of those interviewed by Instituto Semesp are interested in taking courses in the area of education.
“We think it is also necessary to rethink the model for offering degree courses, with this campaign we are running to attract young people to degree courses. The curricula must have more practice and more training for this use of technology, the need to finance monthly fees, because the majority of those who go to the degree course are from a lower social class and, therefore, the need for a permanence grant so the student doesn’t drop out and doesn’t need to work”, argues Lúcia Teixeira.
Distance training
Recently, high enrollment rates in distance learning courses and concerns about the quality of student training, especially future teachers, led the Ministry of Education (MEC) to seek a review of the modality’s regulatory framework.
For the executive director of Semesp, Rodrigo Capelato, in-person training may not be the only solution. He advocates a review of course evaluation. Even though it is distance learning, he emphasizes that teacher training courses require in-person hours, in internships, for example.
“I think what needs to be done is to improve the assessment of this presence. If I have mandatory internships and these internships are not completed or are very bad, then I have a problem. If it’s bad and I just increase the load [horária presencial], I’m only going to increase the badness. So, I think that, first, before discussing more face-to-face load or less face-to-face load, I’m not saying that we defend it or not, but I think it’s necessary to improve this face-to-face monitoring”, he says.
The survey carried out with teachers by Instituto Semesp shows that 50.1% of respondents partially or completely disagree with the statement that distance learning is not appropriate. Furthermore, for 55.7% of respondents, degree courses should only be offered in person.
