Who cares about the teacher?”: teacher’s perception of the municipalization of education in Porto Velho/RO

Abstract

The municipalization of primary education resulting from the separation of responsibilities between the Union, States, and municipalities was carried out temporally and procedurally in distinct ways in different Brazilian municipalities. We present results of the analysis of the last stage of the municipalization process in Porto Velho/RO, in which schools from the State school system were transferred to the Municipality of Porto Velho/RO, including teachers who, hired by the State school system, were transferred to Municipality’s administration. Our goal is to analyze the teachers’ perceptions about the process of municipalization of teaching activities and its implications on their career and teaching work. Fifteen teachers from six state schools that were transferred to the municipality’s administration participated in the research. The data were produced through semi-structured interviews, notes in a field diary, and analysis of the documents that regulate municipalization. The results indicate that, although the official speeches attribute to teachers the role of protagonists in the educational processes, in the conception and implementation of these changes, in Porto Velho/RO, there was no involvement of the teachers, and the spaces for participation in schools were not constituted in contexts capable of contributing to democratic formation. According to Historical-Cultural Psychology, the absence of spaces for the appropriation of historical and political reality interferes with the constitution of critical awareness and alters the essence of the teacher’s work, favoring the alienation condition.