1 Institute of Physics, University of São paulo, São paulo, Brazil
Studies have indicated the pivotal role that qualified and experienced teachers play in students outcomes as well as in curriculum reforms. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to say that the critical aspects of teacher education such as recruiting and retaining good teachers are commonly overlooked. The main goal of our broader study is to provide an accurate empirical picture about the Physics teacher education in Brazil, which might help to enrich a more international discussion on processes of teacher recruiting, retention and attrition in Science Education.
Findings indicate that the distribution of qualified teachers across Brazilian states is uneven with a couple of them with less than 10% of the teachers with adequate qualification in Physics teaching. Moreover, roughly 5% of those who entered in the teacher education programs end up teaching Physics in high schools. It is a massive leak which has its major challenge in filling the gap between higher education institutions and the high school classrooms. To sum up, the study makes possible to empirically ground the debate over Physics teacher shortages and evaluate the extent to which there is, oris not, sufficient supply of teachers in this field. Besides the Physics teacher shortage is huge compared with developed countries, the numbers seem relatively stable throughout the years. It is, on the one hand, a relevant confirmation that the problem is not getting any worse, on the other hand, it is evident that all the effort to improve Physics teacher retention have been achieving little effective results. Today, there is a growing consensus coming from quantitative and qualitative studies that improvements in salary and working conditions are key to change the whole scenario. From an accurate picture of Physics teachers situation, it is possible to understand and work with the concrete educational scenario.
Keywords: Teacher education, teacher shortage, Physics teacher
I
NTRODUCTIONThere is a growing consensus among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners that initial teacher education is a key factor in changing the current state of affairs in Science Education (Bauer & Prenzel, 2012). Even though curricular design, integration between teacher education programs and schools, teachers' knowledge are indisputably at the core of teacher education concerns, it is important to address the nature as well as the current state of Science teacher attrition and retention (Buchanan et al., 2013).
The lack of qualified teachers is especially critical in implementing any substantial change in Brazilian Science Education. Studies have indicated the pivotal role that qualified and experienced teachers play in students outcomes as well as in curriculum reforms (Borko et al., 2002; Delandshere & Arens, 2001). Although, the relevance of well trained teachers in the
educational processes has become common sense in research and educational practice, it is reasonable to say that the critical aspects of teacher education as well as attrition, recruiting, and retaining teachers are commonly overlooked (Borko et al., 2002; Buchanan et al., 2013).
The scenario of shortage and to some extent inadequacy of initial teacher education, commonly referred as out-of-field teachers, is not restricted to Brazil. This issue has been the subject of several studies around the world, including in economically developed countries (du Plessis et al., 2014; Ingersoll, 2003). According to Du Plessis; Gillies and Carrol (2014), in Australia 16% of Science and 24% of Mathematics teachers are not qualified, whereas in England 31.4%
of Physics teachers are framed in the same problem. As we will see in this study, the Brazilian scenario, with regard to the physics teacher, it is much more worrying and the numbers are not encouraging.
Moreover, since educational data started to be collected covering a variety of aspects, it is possible to identify struggles in Brazilian educational system to improve its general quality (Avalos, 2011), from general indicators like graduation rates to specific ones like the students' achievement in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). We expect that by addressing the shortage of Physics teachers in Brazil might help to shield light in the general issue of teacher retention around the world. To better understand the concrete and structural challenges that developing countries are facing today regarding improving Science education indicators, it is important to build an accurate picture of what are the situation of Brazilian Physics teachers’ formation and practical experience (Villani et al., 2009).
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TUDY GOALSThe main goal of our broader study is to provide an accurate empirical picture about the Physics teacher education in Brazil. Although the data presented is mostly on national level, the study as might help to enrich a more international discussion on processes of teacher recruiting, retention and attrition in Science Education.
In this study we acknowledge that teachers' education and experience play a pivotal role in different aspects of Science education from pupils learning to curriculum reforms. Therefore, there is an underlying need to substantiate the Science Education research with data and evidence of the challenges that professional development faces today. We focused on two dimensions of teachers situation in Brazil: (i) teachers’ undergraduate degree; and (ii) the number of incoming and concluding students in Physics teacher undergraduate programs, and in-service qualified teachers. We looked for relations between this two dimensions in order to understand how the professional choice is maintained or not when they initiate their professional life.
S
OME REMARKS ON INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION INB
RAZILBefore addressing the Physics teacher situation, it is important to have an overview of how teacher education is structured in Brazil which might have some contrast with European programs, mainly after Bologna (Flores, 2011). Physics teaching is basically concentrated in the high school level and the qualification to teach is a higher education degree -- university level. There are little alternative paths to becoming a high school teacher and even though the design in the teacher education programs might vary, in the general outline al future teachers
have to entry the university level of initial teacher education program.
The main implication is that future teachers must have a career decision early on in their academic lives, which might be too early for many. This characteristic of decision making has implications for the process of recruiting new students for teacher education programs and the ways students and institutions find to avoid dropouts. Most of the students take the decision to become a teacher while in the teacher education program and most of them do not go to work as teachers, even if they have completed the four years program (Gatti, 2013).
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ETHODS AND DATA GATHERINGThe study is grounded on the governmental education data at national level in Brazil which stems from the datasets of basic schools and higher education census both publicly available by the Ministry of Education. The study is centered on the descriptive statistic adequate to build the empirical picture of teacher education (Agresti & Finlay, 2009). Most of the effort consists in assembly the data set from the last decade and inquiry about the concrete situation of Physics teachers in schools regarding their qualification.
This empirical picture created with a descriptive statistic might work as a starting point for investigating the concrete situation and public policies as well as provide the bases for models in broader studies.
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INDINGSIt is not uncommon that policymakers, curriculum designers and researchers set their actions and propositions based on an idealized teachers that may not find support in the concrete life of schools. One of the central issues is: who is actually conducting the Physics lessons?
In Brazil, since 2007 is known that Physics is the subject matter that lives the most critical scenario with 26% of its teachers with proper qualification -- i.e. higher education degrees in Physics teacher education (Pestana, 2009).
Table 1 - Percentage of the Physics teachers by each higher education degree | Source: 2018 Brazilian School Census
Figure1 - Graphic of the number of students entering in Physics teacher education programs by year, number of new teachers concluding the Physics teacher education programs by year, and number of qualified Physics teachers teaching in 2018 by concluding year.
Table 1 shows the percentage of the Physics teachers by each higher education degree. The largest group is formed by teachers has a background in Mathematics. In the national level, they correspond to 32% of the total number of Physics teachers. The qualified teachers correspond only to the third largest group and it is possible to estimate that 79.5% (more than 46,000) Physics teachers are non-qualified.
The distribution of qualified teachers across states is uneven with a couple of states with less than 10% of the teachers with adequate qualification. For instance the federal district has the best mark with 61% of qualified teachers while São Paulo, the most populous state, has 16.3 %.
The number of students entering into Physics teacher education programs roughly doubled from 2009 to 2017. What is mainly explained by the expansion of the higher education system and the growing number of teacher education programs in almost all subject matters. Although it is possible to observe a tendency of growing in the last year for students entering and new teachers leaving from teacher education programs, only one-quarter eventually concludes.
Additionally, only one-fifth of new teacher go to classrooms in public and private schools. It means that roughly 5% of the those who entered in the teacher education programs end up teaching Physics in high schools. It is a massive leak which entails challenges in filling the gap between higher education institutions and the school classrooms as well as improving the ratio between the entering and the concluding in Physics teacher education programs.
Table 2 - Percentage of the Physics teachers by each higher education degree per region | Source: 2018 solutions might be regional driven. regions like South which has historically better education indicators along with Southeast which is known for been a highly industrialized region has the higher rates of qualified teachers with 28.1 % and 31.2 % respectively.
F
INALC
ONSIDERATIONSAs data shows there is a shortage of Physics teachers in general and it is particularly aggravated for qualified teachers (Araujo & Vianna, 2011). Although such a shortage magnitude is known since 2006 with studies on the 2003 school census (INEP, 2006), there are few studies address the most particular characteristics and issues related to the physics teacher specially in recruiting and retaining in the initial teacher education program. Based on the 2009 school census, Gatti (2014) highlights that among all school subjects, Physics is the one with the lowest percentage of qualified teachers.
Besides the Physics teacher shortage is more acute compared with developed countries, the numbers seem relatively stable throughout the years. It is, on the one hand, a relevant confirmation that the problem is not getting any worse. On the other hand, it is evident that all the effort to improve Physics teacher retention have been achieving little effective results.
There is a growing consensus coming from quantitative and qualitative studies that improvements in salary and working conditions are key to change the whole scenario (Richardson & Watt, 2005).
Furthermore, the dominant presence of teachers with Math background may help to explain the strong identification or reduction of Physics teaching to mathematical problems solving. This problem added by the uneven distribution of qualified Physics teachers across regions, allows
to hypothesize that Physics teaching could have different characteristics in different regions.
Another commonly neglected consequence of the critical Physics teacher shortage is that teachers can not create teachers study groups becoming isolate in his work at school, what may undermine professional development programs grounded on pair exchange and networking within the disciplinary field.
Finally, with a more accurate picture of Physics teachers situation, it is possible to understand and work with the concrete educational scenario and at the same time to propose ways to change it.
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