The teacher shortage beyond the lack of teachers: teacher training, work, and improvisation

Abstract

This study analyzes the relationship between academic training and professional practice among lower secondary school teachers in the state public school system of Francisco Beltrão, in southwestern Paraná, seeking to understand to what extent this relationship reveals signs of the so-called teacher shortage crisis, even in the absence of official records indicating a lack of teachers. The study is based on the understanding that teacher shortage is not expressed only in quantitative terms, but also through other weaknesses related to teacher education, working conditions, and the devaluation of the teaching career. This is an exploratory study with a qualitative approach, grounded in a critical-dialectical perspective, combining bibliographic and documentary analysis with empirical data collected from practicing teachers. For data interpretation, the phenomenon is organized into analytical categories: quantitative shortage, improvisation, hidden shortage, and precarious employment contracts. The findings indicate that, although there are no formal records of teacher shortages in the municipality, the school reality reveals a hidden shortage, expressed in teachers working outside their field of training, the presence of teachers who have not yet completed their academic qualification, the expansion of temporary contracts, and high teacher turnover across curriculum subjects. It is concluded that the teacher shortage crisis goes beyond the quantitative dimension of lacking teachers, constituting an expression of the crisis of teaching work and the precarization of conditions for remaining in the profession