Appreciation of Teachers in Society and in School

Despite the aims for professionalization of education, setting of minimum salaries and the instituting of a fund to support teachers´ training through the education policies of 2007, 2013 and 2014, a high percentage of teachers assume the cost of their own training. Teachers encounter to attending courses and they don´t have a personal feeling of appreciation within school and society. According to the 2013 TALIS Survey, Brazil is the third country of all countries studied where teachers who attend professional development activities pay all the costs with their personal budget. In comparison to other Latin American countries such as Chile and Mexico,

87 more Brazilian teachers pay for their costs for professional development (see Table 7). For example, of the 91% of teachers who reported to have undertaken professional development in the last twelve months of the 2013 survey, 20% payed their own professional development in Brazil; whereas in Mexico more teachers attended professional development activities (96%) and a lower percentage had to pay for all their costs (14%).

Table 7 Teachers’ Professional Development and Personal Cost Involved (2013) Country Percentage of teachers who undertook

some professional development activity⁶⁹ in the last 12 months of the survey (Talis, 2013)

Percentage of teachers who had to pay for all of their professional development

Brazil 91.5 19.8

Chile 71.7 17.2

Mexico 95.6 14.3

Average of

TALIS 2013 88.4 8.6

Sources: OECD (2014), TALIS 2013 Results. An International Perspective of Teaching and Learning, TALIS.

OECD Publishing. Table 4.6 Teachers’ recent professional development and personal cost involved.

In addition to the cost of professional development for teachers, other barriers inhibit teachers’ professional development. For example, the main reasons that prevent teachers attending professional development are the lack of support of the employer (in this case it is the regional ministry of education or the principal), or conflicts with the work schedule of the teachers (see Table 8). Conflicts with work schedule may reflect the fact that in some states, teachers have two different teaching positions (in a municipal school system and in a state school system) and both positions are usually taught on the same day in opposite schedules.

Besides the indicators of lack of time and finance that teachers mention to explain their limited opportunities for professional development, some qualitative indicators unveil teachers´ appreciation among their colleagues, school actors and the

69 Professional development activities like "courses/workshops", "education conferences or seminars",

"observation visits to other schools", "observation visits to business premises, public organisations or non-governmental organisations", "in-service training courses in business premises, public organisations or non-governmental organisations", "qualification programme (e.g., a degree programme)", "participation in a network of teachers formed specifically for the professional development of teachers", "individual or collaborative research", or "mentoring and/or peer observation and coaching".

88

communities where they work. Results of teachers’ feeling of their appraisal in society and in school are presented in Table 9 and Table 10. The first indicator, teachers´ opinion of how society values the teaching profession shows that 87% of the Brazilian teachers disagree or strongly disagree that society values the teaching profession. If this indicator is compared with Mexico, it is found that the percentage of Brazilian teachers who disagree that society values the teaching profession is much higher than for Mexican teachers, which reflects a relevant dissatisfaction and lack of recognition of teachers.

Table 8 Barriers for Teachers’ Participation in Professional Development in Brazil

Kind of barrier Percentage

Do not have the pre-requisites (e.g. qualifications, experience, seniority) 8.1 Professional development is too expensive/ unaffordable 44.0

There is a lack of employer support 61.2

Professional development conflicts with my work schedule 54.8

Lack of time due to family responsibilities 25.8

There is no relevant professional development offered 39.8 There are no incentives to participating in such activities 52.8 Source: OECD (2014), TALIS 2013 Results. An International Perspective of Teaching and Learning, TALIS. OECD

Publishing. Table 4.14 Barriers to teachers’ participation in professional development

Table 9 Teachers' Opinion of How Society Values the Teaching Profession

Country Teachers´ opinion

Agree and strongly agree Disagree and strongly disagree

Brazil 12.6 87.4

Mexico 49.5 50.5

Source: OECD (2014), TALIS 2013 Results. An International Perspective of Teaching and Learning, TALIS. OECD

Publishing. Table 7.3 Teachers’ view of the way society values the teaching profession

The second indicator presents the appraisal and feedback to teachers from internal and external actors in school. In Brazil 19% of surveyed teachers reported not having received appraisal or feedback from any internal actor of the school (principal, fellow teachers, school governing board), or external actors (supervisors, or municipal or state education members).

89 The proportion of Brazilian teachers who expressed no appraisal and feedback from any actor places Brazil in the fifth lowest position concerning appraisal and feedback of internal and external actors in schools among the countries surveyed. Italy is in first place with the highest percentage of teachers who report not having received appraisal or feedback from any of their surrounding actors in education. Evidently, Brazilian teachers believe that neither society values teachers’ profession, nor do educational actors show appraisal to colleagues, which may discourage teachers from participating in new projects or even to collaborating with their colleagues.

Table 10 Appraisal and Feedback to Teachers from any Resource

[Proportion of teachers of lower secondary school reporting not received appraisal or feedback from any resource e.g. principal, teachers or school manager and externals in 2007/2008]

Country Not received appraisal or feedback from any resource (%)

Place among the countries surveyed

(23 countries)

Italy 54.6 1

Spain 45.5 2

Portugal 26.3 3

Ireland 25.7 4

Brazil 18.9 5

Iceland 17.0 6

Mexico 7.5 13

Source: OECD (2009), Creating Effective Teaching and Learning Environments: First Results from Talis, OECD Publishing, Paris. Pp. 178 Retrieved from:

http://www.oecd.org/education/school/43023606.pdf. Table 5.3 (2/2) Frequency and source of teachers appraisal and feedback 2007/2008