46% of teachers earn less than the minimum salary – 08/11/2023 – Laura Machado

Teachers are the main agents of a transforming power: a country of children and young people who learn becomes richer in every sense. This transformation is a promising project to be achieved.

For now, the socioeconomic reality of our families and students is what we know, with many vulnerabilities. We have no forecast of a sudden and permanent improvement in our reality.

The teacher’s assignment is extremely difficult: to teach vulnerable Brazilian students. Or is Brazilian society waiting for social reality to change so that students can learn later?

Knowing the transformation capacity of teachers, aren’t they our greatest hope? Certainly hope deserves special treatment and attention.

Knowing the challenge of guaranteeing the learning of vulnerable students, establishing the selection, remuneration and career of good teachers is as important as it is difficult. We know that the salary of Brazilian teachers is lower than that of other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). However, we also know that 92% of parents of students in public elementary education earn less than the national minimum wage for basic education, R$3,840, according to the 2022 PNAD (National Household Sample Survey).

Therefore, in the comparison within Brazil itself, teachers are among the 8% with the highest remuneration. This data informs about the position of the profession in Brazilian society. We are a poor country, but the salary floor for teachers is in the top 8%.

However, despite the fact that the floor is attractive in the national comparison, 46% of public elementary school teachers declare in the 2022 PNAD that they are receiving remuneration below the national floor. How many of these professionals are guaranteeing students’ learning and not receiving what they are entitled to?

We could even award teachers who have good learning results above the floor. For teachers who are not successful in the classroom, we should invest in training them or reallocating them to other functions. In none of these cases, successful or unsuccessful, does non-compliance with the floor seem to be a good answer.

The importance and challenge of the teaching profession is unquestionable. We are a country of vulnerable students and families, full of hope for a better future that education can provide.

Perhaps Brazilian society is willing to pay more than 8% for teachers who are successful in helping our students learn, despite being a poor country. For teachers who are unable to teach, it is our duty to delimit referrals for requalification or reallocation.

Our students need to have teachers who guarantee learning. Otherwise, in the enormous challenge of guaranteeing our education, we will not materialize either a fair and attractive career for teachers or the country in which children and young people learn in the classroom.

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