Educação e neoliberalismo: a precarização do trabalho docente em escolas privadas de Santa Maria - RS

Abstract

Private investments in education have increased in the last decades. The educational market is profitable and competitive, especially in the challenging conjuncture brought by the Covid-19 pandemic. In these circumstances, adopting neoliberal paradigms of management seems to be a strategy adopted by some schools, broadly impacting teachers’ performance in basic education. This paper aims to understand to which extent the typical neoliberal procedures adopted by these institutions impact the teaching work performed there. To that end, this study conducted semi-structured interviews with working teachers from private schools in Santa Maria - RS. The results suggest overworked professionals, notably during distance learning. Likewise, they accentuate the expanding process of neoliberal subjectification, which, in a way, normalizes, despite criticism, the intensification of working hours. The instability of labor relations, the amplification and exacerbation of working hours, along with family and school management demands, have all contributed to the increased impersonalization of teachers’ work.