Precariousness in contracts, prejudice, especially linguistic, delay in recognizing diplomas and lack of support in integration. This is the panorama experienced by immigrant teachers who work, or try to work, in Portugal. The data is part of the study Immigrant Teachers in Portugal: Data, professional qualifications, experiences and international evidencecarried out by Portuguese researcher Sílvia de Almeida, from the Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences (CICS.NOVA).
The results were presented in a session late in the afternoon of Thursday, December 4, in Lisbon. The research, developed in partnership with Antonina Tereshchenko, from Brunel University London, combined official data and interviews with 20 foreign teachers.
According to Sílvia, despite the crisis of lack of professionals in the classroom, the increase in foreign teachers between 2012 and 2024 was considered “contained”: 127 more in the entire period. At the moment, represent around 1% of the total number of teachers in the country.
One of the most notable movements is the growth of Brazilian professionals, following the general increase in immigration from Brazil to Portugal. Represent 20.8%according to the Directorate-General for Education (DGE) in the 2023/24 academic year, the most recent data available.
Around 58% of these teachers teach in the third cycle and in secondary education (Portuguese secondary education), mainly in the areas of Portuguese, English, mathematics, physical education and science. The research also identified that one in four immigrant teachers only stays for one school year. In the last decade, only 16.4% remained in the education system throughout the entire period.
The interviews, which included several Brazilian teachers, reveal recurring difficulties: inconsistent, time-consuming documentary processes with unclear requirements, especially in the recognition of diplomas. A bureaucracy necessary to obtain the documents required by the DGE is highlighted as one of the biggest barriers for those arriving from Brazil.
One example is the case of Brazilian teacher Alana Gabriela Vieira Alvarenga da Costarecently released by DN Brazil. The Portuguese Government did not recognize the different versions of the document that she presented. After the public repercussion, the document was finally issued, identical to the previous oneswith the only difference being that it was produced by Portugal and not Brazil.
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Differences in the nomenclature of subjects and the non-recognition of courses taken also impede the practice of teaching. “I took three courses in Geology alone, but it was not considered sufficient in Portugal. My grade was considered deficient. They didn’t give space for compensatory measures, or for a master’s degree, or anything, they just rejected. The curriculum was insufficient because of Geology and I couldn’t teach”, reported one of the Brazilian teachers interviewed in Síliva’s research. The absence of this recognition is a frequent reason for rejections in public competitions and even dismissals in the middle of the academic year..
There are also reports of prejudice, including discrimination based on language, skin color or nationality. A Brazilian teacher described: “The most unpleasant situation was in a meeting, when a colleague asked what Portuguese I taught: ‘Aren’t you Brazilian? How do you, being Brazilian, teach Portuguese?‘ I replied that I speak Portuguese and that I know the differences. She said, ‘But you speak with a Brazilian accent.’ I said, ‘Then I do my best’.”
A unanimous point among all the people interviewed is the lack of integration or structured mentoring programs in Portuguese schools, especially aimed at foreign teachers. According to the report, professionals in Brazil, currently the majority, are most affected. “This lack of formal support constitutes a significant barrier to professional integration, especially for Brazilian teachers, whose initial training did not occur in the Portuguese academic and pedagogical context.”
The research was funded by the Young European Research Universities Network (YERUN).
amanda.lima@dn.pt