Work in youth and adult education: teacher precariousness

O trabalho na educação de jovens e adultos: a precarização do docente

El trabajo en la educación de jóvenes y adultos: la precarización de los docentes

Giovanna Barroca de Moura, Djanice Marinho de Oliveira, Adriana Bastos Oliveira, Maria das Graças de Almeida Baptista, Jorge Fernando Hermida Aveiro

Highlights

The expansion of teachers' working hours leads us to think of other types of precariousness.

Teachers' speeches emphasize the precariousness experienced in their practice as a recurring phenomenon.

The fragility of teachers' working conditions makes it difficult to see the quality of teachers' work.

Abstract

The school is transforming the new labor relations that affect the teaching activity. This research aimed to analyze the working conditions of teachers working in Youth and Adult Education (EJA), considering the process of job insecurity from the perspective of historical and dialectical materialism. This is a qualitative study involving nine EJA professionals from a school located in João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil. The results indicate that changes in labor laws, outsourcing, intermittent working hours, and low and flexible wages significantly impact the field of education and contribute to its precariousness.

Resumo | Resumen

Keywords

Conditions of teaching work. Precarization. Youth and adult education.

Received: 04.24.2023

Accepted: 08.08.2023

Published: 08.18.2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26512/lc29202348218

For starters...

In recent years, Brazil has been shaken by an economic, political, and institutional crisis which seeks to intensify the expropriation of workers by promoting labor practices devoid of rights. Faced with an uncertain future, this conjuncture reflects an even more aggressive phase of capitalism, marked by the radicalization of exploitation and the precariousness of labor relations.

From this context, it is possible to understand the phenomenon in question acts as a movement that disqualifies the current way of performing teaching work, aiming at its subsequent re-qualification. In this sense, to think about a school that meets the concrete needs of the population, it is necessary to reflect on how teaching work has been developed within school spaces. When observing them, the problematic scenario of precariousness that often presents itself becomes evident.

In this scenario, discussions about the precariousness of teaching work are frequent in academia. Based on these reflections, it is possible to analyze some research that examines the effects of precariousness in the school context. These investigations contribute to a deeper understanding of the impacts of this problem on the quality of education, the work of teachers, and the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process.

The research carried out by Costa (2018) in the municipality of Marília - SP, with the objective of analyzing the precarious conditions of teaching work in Early Childhood Education, revealed that precariousness stems mainly from these factors: 1. Double working day (special working day); 2. Flexibility of labor contracts; 3. Intellectual devaluation; 4. Lack of a career plan; and 5. Poor wage policy.

Previtali and Fagiani (2020), in turn, conducted a bibliographic research in which they proposed to analyze the changes in work and the forms of resistance of public basic education teachers in Brazil, especially from the Temer government (2016-2018), a period in which neoliberal reforms intensified with the support of labor deregulation via the approval of Law No. 13,467 of 2017 of the Labor Reform (Brazil, 2017).

As a result, the authors found that teaching work in Basic Education has been reformulated through the adoption of flexible and temporary contracts, in addition to standardized individual performance evaluations linked to goals, results, and differentiated payments that vary according to the level of productivity of each professional. These are some of the constituent elements of the intentionality of the (de)construction of teachers' training processes, resulting in discouragement, apathy and may even lead to teachers' illness (Previtali & Fagiani, 2020).

In another study, Matos and Farias (2020) conducted an analysis of education workers during the pandemic period, seeking to understand whether the pandemic caused by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (covid-19) accentuated the fragility of the role of public basic education teachers. The results showed a significant increase in the precariousness of teaching work, highlighting some difficulties faced by teachers, such as increased workload and student dropout, the latter caused by the lack of access to the Internet and the electronic devices needed to follow remote classes. In addition, the teachers themselves had to bear additional expenses, such as internet access, increased energy consumption and the purchase of work equipment.

It is important to emphasize that the precariousness of teaching work is not a problem experienced only in Brazil, configuring itself as a worldwide phenomenon. In a study on the new forms of teaching work in the context of Youth and Adult Education (EJA) and vocational education in Mexico, Silva (2017) identified that there are models of teacher hiring that contribute to the lack of specialization and, consequently, to the precariousness of teaching work.

When searching using the descriptor "precariousness of teaching work in Youth and Adult Education" from 2018 to 2022, no studies were found available in Portuguese in Google Scholar and the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) database. Discussing the precariousness of teaching work in the EJA thus becomes a somewhat challenging task. Therefore, the theme gains relevance and highlights the urgency of research addressing the multiple forms of precariousness, considering the contemporary conditions of labor exploitation, and configuring a historical situation for teaching professionals.

Because of the above, the general objective of this study is to analyze the working conditions of teachers working in the EJA, identifying the factors that most contribute to weaknesses in this context. The present research is developed from a qualitative perspective and has a theoretical-methodological path the historical and dialectical materialism. This method makes it possible to analyze themes of reality, establishing a relationship with the dynamics of the social totality in which they are inserted. This way, we seek to understand the concrete reality in its movements, determinations, and contradictions.

Materialism considers that men are not passive actors in the phenomena of nature; on the contrary, they build their own history. Materialism is also dialectical since it observes contradictions as the engine of history, which is essentially the struggle between opposites. According to the Marxist understanding, conducting research means uniting matter in its multiple dimensions, highlighting its contradictions, the laws that structure the phenomenon to be studied, and, consequently, the dialectical implication between phenomenon and essence.

For Lessa and Tonet (2011), historical-dialectical materialism conceives the world of men as the synthesis of prior ideation and natural material, that is, not only as an idea or as matter but as an overcoming of both. In this sense, Triviños (2015) understands that historical-dialectical materialism is one of the most original ideas in the field of knowledge theories, as it highlights the importance of social practice as a criterion of truth. Thus, research based on such a perspective understands that man can also transform it in addition to seeking to know the world around him.

Considering the objective of this work, the empirical research had as a field of investigation a public school located on the outskirts of João Pessoa - Paraíba, which offers the Youth and Adult Education (EJA) modality in the night shift. To collect the data, a questionnaire was applied through Google Forms, addressing the social and professional profile of the participants, as well as a single question: "What factors have contributed to the precariousness of teaching work?".

The research had the participation of nine EJA teachers, four women, and six men, who work in different curricular components of Cycles I, II, III, and IV. All teachers were invited to participate in the study voluntarily and to digitally sign the Informed Consent Form under the Code of Ethics and Resolution 466/12 (Brazil, 2012).

Historicizing and conceptualizing teachers' working conditions

To understand how teaching work has been developed throughout the 21st century, it is necessary to understand the essence of work in its entirety and to analyze the contradictions that permeate it in the current global economic scenario, marked by a broad flexibilization of labor laws, the growth of atypical forms of teaching work and new trends of precariousness, such as outsourcing, negotiation, and uberization.

The history of work goes back to the history of mankind and its various forms of realization over the generations. Marx (2004, p. 114) observes that "all so-called world history is nothing more than the engendering of man through human labor, as the becoming of nature for man". For Marx (2013, p. 255), "work is, above all, a process between man and nature, a process in which man, by his own action, mediates, regulates and counters his metabolism with nature". By transforming nature into something new, with the use of value to satisfy his own needs, man transforms himself and his condition of existence. By transforming nature into something new, with the use of value to satisfy his own needs, man transforms himself and his condition of existence.

In the Marxian perspective, work means humanization, creation, and re-creation, as it involves transforming the elements of nature and of man himself. According to Marx (2004), what differentiates human beings from other animals is precisely their capacity for conscious transformative action - praxis. In this way, work is the manifestation of praxis.

Silva (2020) points out that human work, in its ontological dimension, elucidates the dehumanization induced by the logic of capital, which transforms labor force into merchandise. Therefore, human work cannot be devoid of consciousness and purpose since every labor action seeks to satisfy a need. According to Marx (2008), the body prepares for work, but it is the awareness and the desire to achieve a goal that drives the process so that the worker produces something for his own existence.

Thus, human beings need to be aware of what they produce, what elements are used, and what the objectives of their work are. Saviani (2007, p. 154) states that, in order to become human, men and women need "to learn to produce their own existence. Therefore, the production of man is at the same time the formation of man, that is, an educational process".

Saviani (2007) also points out that education is a process of/for work, with a historical-ontological foundation in the relationship between these two elements. Therefore, humans do not acquire their subsistence for free, as they need to produce it with their hands. In this production process, the individual educates himself and the new generations, establishing a reciprocal relationship between work and education that historically constitutes the humanization of being.

In this context, Ponce (1986) points out that, in primitive communities, education and work maintained a total relationship of identity, in which one could not occur without the other. Education, understood here as the guidance of the old generations to the new, served common interests and manifested itself spontaneously and integrally.

However, with the advance of the class-divided society (Ponce, 1986), spontaneous and integral education, based on the work process, was weakening. The division of labor and the advancement of production techniques have reflected the power of human labor. It was then started to produce more, which generated a surplus of products and caused the accentuation of economic differences between the population (Borges, 2020).

Common interests were gradually replaced by particular and distinct interests, leading to the institution of a new type of education related to power and domination and strongly linked to the antagonisms of social classes (Borges, 2020). As a consequence, education and work were distanced, resulting in two distinct types of education: that of the ruling class, based on intellectual activities, the art of speech, and physical exercises; and that of the dominant class, strongly linked to work processes (Saviani, 2007).

Therefore, education has met the demands of the capitalist system, reflecting its contradictions, tensions, inequalities, and exploitation, present in its material basis in the social division of labor. Frigotto (1998) points out that these contradictions are evidenced in exclusionary globalization, which enhances inequalities, as well as by the private monopoly of science and technology, which causes the destruction of jobs, resulting in unemployment, suppression of social rights, and precariousness.

Teaching work is an expressive example of this reality, as it is intrinsically linked to the educational processes of the capitalist school. Teachers began to devote more time to school and the search for continued qualification, aiming to improve their teaching standards, all this amid poor working conditions, lack of infrastructure, too many students per class and scarcity of materials (Oliveira, 2002).

The dialectic of the everyday constitution and the changes brought about by the capitalist mode of production has led to a reconfiguration of some essential aspects of teaching work. For Sá (2005), the transformations have completely changed the forms of work organization at school.

In the last three decades, work has undergone profound and significant changes in the world, in Brazil, and, consequently, in schools. The universalization of capital, accumulation, flexible productive organization, and neoliberalism have shaped a new and precarious world of work, complexified, intensified, fragmented and heterogeneous (Alves, 2000; 2011; 2014; Antunes, 2006; 2013; 2018; Dal Rosso, 2008; 2013; 2017; Borges, 2020; Silva, 2020). This process is considered responsible for estrangement and alienation in the world of work, resulting in the precariousness of social life (Silva, 2020).

In fact, teaching work is also part of this alienated and alienating production, manifesting itself in various aspects, such as mastery of the work process, rigid state control, lack of flexibility, and criticality in the face of new requirements and the dichotomy between elaboration and execution, theory and practice.

In the current scenario of teaching work, education professionals are immersed in a stressful environment with high levels of pressure, insecurity, and work overload. In addition, the demands imposed by the new forms of school management are due to the productive restructuring of capitalism. These circumstances have contributed to general dissatisfaction with professional activity and have aggravated the poor working conditions, making the situation even more precarious and alienated.

Contour and context of the precariousness of teaching work

The precariousness of work is a process inherent to the reproduction and development of capitalism, which has taken multiple forms throughout history. For Mézáros (2006, p. 41), "the system of capital is no longer in a position to grant anything to labor, in contrast to the reformist achievements of the past".

In today's literature, it is clear that changes in the world of work are not only related to wage issues, high unemployment, or transformations in production processes but also reverberate on the worker, given the internal mechanisms of the consensual and manipulative logic of the rules of the flexible accumulation regime, its values and organizational devices (Harvey, 1992; Antunes, 1999; 2013; 2018; Alves, 2008; Silva, 2020). In other words, metamorphoses arise in the work world in each new historical context.

The new capitalist organization of work is increasingly characterized by precariousness, flexibility, and deregulation. In this scenario, flexibility is understood as the freedom that companies have to dismiss part of their employees without suffering any penalties. Similarly, this reorganization enables companies to subdivide the working day according to their own convenience (Vasapollo, 2006).

Work is thus being replaced by various models of informality, such as outsourced work, cooperatives, entrepreneurship, and voluntary work (Antunes, 2013), each with its own particularities. By briefly analyzing the global trend, it is clear that there have been profound transformations in Brazilian capitalism, especially after the 1990s, in which there is a process of "precariousness of work", intensified by labor reform and laws aimed at expanding and making more flexible the possibilities of outsourcing and hiring temporary work.

Yamamoto (2012) highlights the progressive increase since the 1990s of employees whose work cards are not signed; that is, they are workers deprived of labor rights, such as the 13th salary, vacations, unemployment insurance, Guarantee Fund for Length of Service (FGTS) and social security. According to data presented by the author, the rate of employees without a formal contract increased from 21.1% in 1995 to 24.2% in 2003 (Yamamoto, 2012).

Faced with high unemployment rates and the expansion of entrepreneurship, more and more workers are submitting to precarious contracts with long working hours and no guarantee of rights. All this results in a significant increase of "temporary workers" and promotes a trend towards intensifying and exploiting Brazilians' labor. Increased outsourcing, through subcontracting by small firms that act as a protective shield for large corporations, facilitates the transfer or externalization of labor conflicts (Silva, 2020).

Outsourcing is a powerful mechanism of labor relations. It aims to raise the earnings of capital by reducing labor costs. It commonly promotes working conditions analogous to slavery, characterized by degradation, humiliation, and exhaustion of workers. Cavalcanti (2016) points out that outsourcing is presented as a new strategy when in reality, it reissues moments in history when there were no obstacles to the complete commodification of the workforce.

In this context, the so-called pejotização arises, which Carvalho (2010, p. 62) conceptualizes as "one of the new modalities of flexibilization, which results in the de-characterization of the employment relationship and which constitutes the hiring of a Legal Person (PJ) to replace the employment contract". Thus, pejoration consists of a legal phenomenon in which the company proposes to its workers, individuals, that they start to perform their functions as a legal entity and provide services through it. In many cases, the change is characterized as fraud, as it prevents the recognition of the employment relationship (Ferreira & Santos, 2021). This model has affected professionals linked to intellectual activities (Bernardo, 2016), such as lawyers, bankers, doctors, teachers, and information technology professionals.

Another sector that has experienced rapid growth in recent years is app-based services such as Uber. This form of work can also be understood as a form of outsourcing, in which the worker enters the labor market assuming all responsibility for the demands included in the service provision (Silva, 2020).

The impact of Uber on the economy and the labor market has triggered the creation of several terms, such as the verb "uberize" and the expression "uberization of labor relations" (Fontes, 2017, p. 54). Antunes (2016) refers to uberization as a new pattern of work organization, whose employer is solely responsible for their remuneration, without guaranteed labor or social security rights, and still bearing all costs related to their trade.

In short, outsourcing, negotiation, and the more recent uberization are 21st-century phenomena that interconnected through exploitation based on political and ideological control of the workforce. These models increase the precariousness of professions and intensify working hours since they are based on the existence of unemployment, leading workers to submit to any form of occupation that guarantees them income for their subsistence.

Regardless of the global phenomenon, the fact remains that employees, including teachers, are not dissociated from capitalist social relations. Although teaching work has some specificities, it shares common characteristics with other activities in the world of work. Therefore, factors such as precariousness, flexibilization, negotiation, and uberization are also present in teaching activity. The number of teachers whose jobs are labeled as "service provision" or "temporary" has increased more and more, especially in public education networks, causing the flexibilization of teaching work to intensify (Silva, 2020).

In João Pessoa, the capital of the state of Paraíba, the contract of temporary teachers or service providers lasts a maximum of two years. However, a new contract is often drawn up when this period ends. Although permanent and temporary teachers carry out the same activities, service teachers experience an even more intense situation of precariousness as they face uncertainty about their professional future. For Milani and Fiod (2008), the temporary teacher is like a nomad searching for work and is perceived as disposable, compelled to become unemployed. According to Ferreira and Abreu (2014), hiring teachers, which should be used only on an emergency basis, has become a permanent policy.

The research conducted by Gomes (2017) sought to verify how many temporary teachers there were in Brazil in 2016. The data showed that there were at least 250,000 teachers in this situation, which corresponded, in the period, to approximately 35% of the total number of practicing teachers in the country.

In the study, Gomes (2017) also revealed that some federative units have higher levels of hiring temporary teachers, with more than 50% of them working under this regime in states such as Acre (4,188 temporary teachers and 2,321 permanent teachers); Alagoas (5,335 temporary teachers and 1,142 permanent teachers); Ceará (11,075 temporary teachers and 7,754 permanent teachers); Espírito Santo (9,524 temporary teachers and 3,413 permanent teachers); and Minas Gerais (55,607 temporary teachers and 40,393 permanent teachers). Paraíba was not among the states with the most temporary teacher hires. In 2013, it registered 43% of temporary teachers, increasing to 48% in 2014 and decreasing to 30% in 2015 (Gomes, 2017).

As for pejotização in the field of teaching, this phenomenon has been occurring mainly in intellectual activities as a way of trying to camouflage the employment relationship between employee and employer, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the worker as a facilitating element for the acceptance of these conditions. In a research conducted by Orbem (2016), the author notes that the number of negotiation processes of teaching work in Brazil has been increasing. Teachers are encouraged to become legal entities and service providers instead of being bound by the guidelines of the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) as an individual.

Concerning Uberization in the field of teaching work, the figure of the "Uber-teacher" is pointed out as a professional who works both in person and remotely without any job guarantee or stability, characterizing precarious labor disguised by flexibility.

This practice of uberization of teaching that has been occurring in Brazil aims to form a labor bank available to meet the demand of educational sectors, whether private or public. In this model, the "Uber-teacher" is called to fill vacancies on an interim basis in the absence of a permanent teacher. (Silva & Silva Júnior, 2021). This scenario depersonalizes teachers, subjecting them to a competitive environment with low pay, uninterrupted evaluations, and precarious working conditions, promoting the disqualification of their exercise.

All this demonstrates that the precariousness of work has become a crucial issue in the lives of teachers, negatively impacting their quality of life and professional motivation from the junction of the elements salary-hour-contract which, by analogy, could be converted respectively into the terms impoverishment, work intensification, and instability.

Comparing teachers' salaries in Brazil with developed countries, the difference is alarming. A survey carried out in 1993 by the InformaCut bulletin showed that Switzerland paid teachers around US$3,000 a month in that year. In the United States, professionals were paid an average of $1,800. Teachers in Germany and France were paid around US$2,500. Italian teachers, on the other hand, earned US$1,300 per month. In Brazil, especially in the capital of São Paulo, teachers were paid US$80 a month. The difference in monthly salary was up to 37 times higher when comparing Switzerland and Brazil. This disparity highlights the devaluation of the teaching profession in the country.

Data from the 1990s indicate that Brazilian teachers' pay was significantly lower than in developed countries. However, little has changed, and teachers face low pay and poor working conditions. With this, we can infer that the devaluation of this profession is a historical process at all levels of education (Oliveira, 2019).

The recognition of the low salaries of Brazilian primary education teachers has led to the need to raise a banner in the fight to establish a salary floor. The victory materialized in 2008 with the implementation of the National Professional Salary Floor (PSPN) (Fernandes & Rodriguez, 2011) through Law No. 11.738/08 (Brazil, 2008). However, the Floor Law is still debated and contested by some states and institutions that resist respecting it.

Exploring the field of research and the precariousness of teaching activity in EJA

Based on the previous reflections on the precariousness of teaching work and the scarcity of research on this theme with teachers working in the EJA, an investigation was carried out in a school located in the municipality of João Pessoa, with the participation of nine teachers. To understand the factors contributing to the precariousness of teaching work in this modality, participants were asked to answer a questionnaire on Google Forms to define their social and professional profile and then answer the following question: "What factors have contributed to the precariousness of teaching work?". When analyzing the answers, it is noticed that they are directly related to teachers' working conditions.

In this research, all participants have academic training and/or specialization in the curricular component in which they work. Among the teachers interviewed, some are permanent, and others are in service provision, as shown in Table 1. It should be noted that to preserve the participants' privacy, all names mentioned have been replaced by fictitious names. This measure aims to guarantee the confidentiality of the information provided by teachers, ensuring that their personal data is not identified or publicly disclosed.

Table 1

Teachers, Training, Cycle and Contract

Identification	Academic background	Cycle where works	Contract
Ana	Letters	III and IV	Service Provider
Antônio	History	III	Service Providers
Fernando	History	IV	Service Provider
Carlos	Geography/Science of Religions	I, II, III, and IV	Service Provider
Geraldo	English Language	III and IV	Service Provider
Germana	Pedagogy	I	Effective
José	Arts	I, II, III, and IV	Service Provider
Josiney	Biological Sciences	III and IV	Service Provider
Reinildes	Mathematics	III and IV	Effective

Source: the authors.

When analyzing the situation of teaching work in Youth and Adult Education (EJA), it is evident that low remuneration is a historical issue that denotes the precariousness of this profession and reflects a material crisis and social discredit. However, the responses of teachers José, Reinildes, and Geraldo to the question "What factors have contributed to the precariousness of teaching work?" reveal that the precariousness of teaching work in the EJA is not limited to the salary issue. José (45 years old, Art teacher) pointed to “excessive working hours and lower wages”. Reynolds (45 years old Math teacher) highlighted the "exhausting working hours, low salaries and devaluation of teachers". For his part, Professor Geraldo (50 years old, English Language teacher) added his perceptions of the challenges faced:

The lack of support and recognition from the school, low salaries and many demands to achieve goals, the lack of material and resources aimed at evening students. Evening education should be geared to the labor market and focused on the expectations of the evening student.

The problem of low pay in teaching work is evident, but it is important to consider that other forms of precariousness are also at play. It is essential to understand that all these characteristics of precariousness are interconnected and cannot be analyzed in isolation, as Oliveira (2019) emphasizes.

Extending the working day and looking for other jobs are strategies that many teachers adopt to face this situation, as reported by teacher Germana (50 years old, EJA Cycle I teacher): "Excessive working hours. The teacher already comes from other shifts, damaging in many moments, due to tiredness, the pedagogical practice".

This issue of teachers' excessive working hours is historical and has been the subject of intense debate in the context of precarization. As Cação (2001) points out, the teacher's workload can lead him or her to become an hourly, fast-paced worker whose salary needs contribute to a multi-shift dynamic, resulting in often transient and superficial work.

Reflections on teaching work point to the existence of the "itinerant teacher" or "teacher aulista (teach per class)", as characterized by Boing (2008) and Cação (2001), respectively. These teachers work in several schools, classes, and shifts, facing excessive working hours. In this sense, Professor Geraldo (50 years old, English Language teacher) pointed out that "excessive working hours are one of the factors for teacher illness".

In fact, as mentioned by Apple (1987, p. 9), "we can see intensification operating most visibly in mental work, in the chronic sense of overwork, which has been increasing over time" and can result in discouragement, stress, fatigue, and even depression. The testimony of Professor Fernando (55 years old, History teacher) aligns with this statement: "What may cause illness, tiredness, fatigue, discomfort, stress or indisposition in some teachers may be an excessive workload."

In addition, the precariousness of teaching work in the EJA is also related to the "vulnerability of students (violence, work, and so on)", as highlighted by teacher Ana (27 years old, Portuguese language teacher), which causes physical and emotional strain among students, especially for those living in situations of risk.

Table 1 also reveals many teachers who are not civil servants and work as service providers. Precarious employment is a form of employment that is not linked to the right to decent work and is manifested in the need for more social security and decent pay, especially in the case of temporary teachers. This scenario is influenced by several factors, such as the absence, in recent years, of public tenders held by the Secretary of Education of the municipality of João Pessoa, the last one dating from 2013. In addition, permanent teachers have priority in selecting their schedules, shifts, and schools. As a result, contract teachers are responsible for the remaining vacancies.

In this sense, precarious contracts, the salary issue, and excessive working hours make up the tripod of the precariousness of teaching work (Oliveira, 2019). Education secretaries have privileged the hiring of temporary teachers to the detriment of public tenders. This is because contracted professionals face more difficulties in establishing themselves professionally since their positions are unstable, which is another critical point in this professional category (Jóia, 1993).

Jóia (1993) points out that the first years following the public tenders suggest an apparent recomposition process of the permanent staff. However, this process does not proportionally accompany the number of retirements and vacancies, so the deficit of effective teachers increases in a few years.

This reality reveals the fragility of the working conditions of EJA teachers, exposing such precariousness that it becomes difficult to glimpse the quality of teaching work historically marked by exploitation and alienation. Given this, it is a constant struggle for these professionals to achieve favorable conditions that allow them to overcome and emancipate themselves.

Provisional remarks

The Youth and Adult Education modality has become increasingly relevant in the Brazilian educational context, being an option for those who did not have access to basic education at the appropriate age. However, teaching work in the EJA is marked by precariousness, which compromises the quality of education offered to students. Teachers of this modality face a series of challenges, such as the need for qualified teaching resources, the absence of specific training, and the excessive workload. In addition, many teachers work in precarious working conditions, with low protections and no labor guarantees.

Thus, it is necessary to respect the specificities of teaching work without reproducing the distance between teachers and the universe of work, which is alienated, repetitive, and exploited. Historical-dialectical materialism has provided conditions for this since, by unveiling the historical and concrete conditions of the process of the precariousness of teaching work, it allows dialogue with teachers, situating them as professionals intrinsic to the gears that make the whole work.

The scarcity of research on the precariousness of teaching work is worrying since it signals conformism and naturalization concerning this phenomenon. There are no ready-made formulas to face and solve this problem, but the first step is to recognize it as such. Debates in schools, studies on the subject, and the unification of the struggles of protest movements can be the starting point for weakening this precariousness.

This study, therefore, contributes to discussions about education. The results point to a correlation between the precariousness of the EJA and the predominant presence of teachers hired on a service provision basis in this educational modality. The high proportion of temporary teachers suggests that youth and adult education may need help attracting and retaining permanent staff, which may negatively affect the stability and quality of teaching in this area.

This precarious situation faced by EJA teachers can directly affect the quality of education offered in this modality. Staff turnover and lack of stability can jeopardize the continuity and consistency of the teaching-learning process, negatively impacting student performance and motivation.

The results also reveal that changes in labor laws, outsourcing, intermittent working hours, low and flexible wages, multi-skilling and new forms of management have a visible impact on the field of education and contribute to its precariousness. The precariousness of teaching work in the EJA is manifested in the lack of specific training for these professionals and in the poor working conditions they face. Public policies must be created to value and guarantee better working conditions for teachers to ensure quality education for those seeking the opportunity to continue their studies.

Nevertheless, it is expected that other research will be carried out with teachers of basic education, University education, and in other regions of Brazil so that the results found here can be expanded and ratified.

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About the athors

Giovanna Barroca de Moura