Brazil and Chile: the reproduction of the teaching workforce

Abstract This article aims at unveiling the perception of teachers about their salary as one of the dimensions of professional valorization in the context of neoliberal hegemony. In the research, of an exploratory nature and without comparative purposes, basic education teachers from four Brazilian states (Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará, Paraíba and Paraná) and from the Maule region of Chile were heard through the instant messaging application WhatsApp. The Brazilian teachers interviewed are linked to state education networks; their employment relationships are by public tender and temporary contracts. Chilean teachers work in public schools and private subsidized schools (privately managed), although all remuneration is paid by the State. One hundred ninety-eight teachers from both countries interacted via WhatsApp. The statements were processed by coding, with the help of Atlas.ti, a qualitative analysis software , to conceptualize and establish relationships between the data collected from the point of view of Grounded Theory. The results indicate, in the Brazilian case, that teachers see an advance in legal rights, but they also perceive that local administrations, given their option for management models with priority focused on fiscal policy, have been gradually regressing such rights, which has produced effects on remuneration. In the Chilean case, the absence or very residual presence of the concept of res publica in the social context is perceived, in the teachers’ point of view, as an important dimension of devaluation, which is intensified through remuneration.