78% of undergraduate teacher courses are easily accessible – 09/22/2023 – Laura Machado

Basic education for all, provided for in article 205 of our Constitution, carries a dream: a country of children and young people learning, therefore, richer in many ways. We know the harsh socioeconomic reality of our families and students, of many vulnerabilities.

Article 205 does not establish smaller dreams for these students, after all, it would not make sense to expect our students to have the same conditions as those in Finland and only then guarantee them their learning. The teacher’s role is extremely difficult: to ensure the education of Brazilian students in the socioeconomic condition we have today.

How is the attraction and selection for the teaching profession, this difficult activity? Graduates in teaching and pedagogy can teach in primary and secondary education. Sisu (Unified Selection System) brings together in an electronic system managed by the Ministry of Education the vacancies offered by higher education institutions across Brazil. The system selects future university students based on their Enem (National High School Exam) score. By course and type of competition, up to the limit of vacancies available, they are selected in order of highest classification. In other words, to become able to teach, it is necessary for high school graduates to reach the cut-off mark in degrees or pedagogy in Enem.

Considering that Enem is an assessment that well captures the proficiency of high school graduates, it can be one of the references for analyzing, based on the cutoff score, the proficiency of students in each course.

Analyzing the years 2018 to 2022, 50% of the courses have a cutoff score below 640 points, therefore, they are easier to access. Among the many pedagogy and teaching courses available in this system, 78% of them have a cutoff score of less than 640 points, being among those with the lowest cutoff score, taking into account free competition. Around 30% of the courses available at Sisu are pedagogy or teaching degrees and, considering only courses with a cut-off score lower than 640 points, 46% of these are in teaching areas.

Currently, we are not attracting the best Enem students to the teaching profession, despite the immense challenge of ensuring learning. The success of education and learning is in the hands of teachers. It is essential that the profession attracts and retains our best national talent.

The implication for public policy is obvious: the profession needs to be attractive. Being a teacher needs to be more socially attractive, more valued and with better working conditions. The countries in which education is doing well are the countries where being a teacher is a dream profession.

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