ANDRADE OLIVEIRA DALILA

University of Minas Gerais

Education policies in Brazil and their effects on teacher work

Education policies in Brazil have brought about major changes over the past two decades in the organisation of school systems, especially in terms of management, funding and assessment trough the restructuring of teacher work. Reforms in education in the 1990s sought to conform to the reform movement of the central state and administrative, financial and pedagogical decentralisation ensued accordingly. This research coordinated by GESTRADO (research group on educational policy and teacher work) of the Federal University of Minas Gerais was aimed to become more familiar and understand the work of teachers – who they are, what they do and the conditions in which they perform their activities in the schools of Brazil’s basic education. Based on a survey conducted in 2009 in seven Brazilian states (Pará, Rio Grande do Norte, Minas Gerais, Goiás, Paraná, Santa Catarina et Espírito Santo), we sought to draw the socio-economic and cultural profile of teachers in office and map the technical distribution of work in schools as well as the new, post-reform positions and functions and the work conditions of teachers: access to continuing education, specific literature, technologies and other cultural goods useful to their professional practice. We also investigated how teachers were recruited, their pay and career conditions in several education networks. The ultimate purpose was to understand to what extent the changes in the management and organisation of school work were likely to redefine the identities and profiles of professionals of basic education. This research across seven states took account of criteria of regional scope and the specificity of educational policy plans that deserve to be known.