Teaching work conditions at today’s school: demands and challenges, according to the São Paulo’s public-school educators

Abstract

This article is part of a broader research named “Challenges of today’s school: the journey towards the school of twenty-first century? which was performed in São Paulo’s state”, by the CEPId research group (an abbreviation of Scholar Context, Teacher’s Identity Formation Process and Basic School Students), based on responses collected from several stakeholders related to public school environment – approved in 2017 by the CNPq (National Scientific and Technological Development Council, under the code 22/2016 – Research in Innovation in Human and Social Science). This article aims to analyze the outcome of teaching working conditions work stream that intended to demonstrate the São Paulo public educators’ perspective of the current working conditions at school and the way it impacts (or not) on the teachers daily work. 5,005 educators, workers of the São Paulo’s public-school network, participated in the research by responding an online survey. The theoretical foundation chosen to guide the data analysis was based on official documents of Brazilian legislation and on studies about “teaching work” and “teaching work conditions”. The complete understanding of the real school challenges, mainly when it concerns to the material and immaterial conditions to the teaching working necessities became possible by matching the objectives of the analysis of the “teaching working conditions work stream” with the data obtained from the online survey. It is part of the conclusions that the topic has not been priority of government’s attention. Issuing new public policies is crucial to address improvements in the teaching conditions work and, therefore, to the general student’s learning.