The temporary teachers’ hiring policy in the municipal educational system of Cametá (Pará, Brazil, 2013–2020)

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the temporary teachers’ hiring policy in Cametá, during the last two municipal administrations (2013–2020). The main focus is the interface between disputes for local power and the municipal administration of education. This is a case study using a qualitative approach, employing the procedures of documental analysis, interviews, participant observation, and a survey for data collection. Our theoretical framework was based on understandings from the anthropology of politics, with the concept of clientelism as the central analytical category. Moreover, we draw from literature that centers research done from a municipal perspective. The results indicate that the practice of hiring temporary teachers occurs mainly in schools in the rural area, being based on clientelist relationships. Several actors are involved in the hiring process and these clientelist relationships, with emphasis on city council members, school principals, and temporary teachers. Furthermore, the precarization of the labor of temporary teachers was observed, with recurring delayed salaries and months worked without payment. The performance of the public prosecutor’s office proved to be insufficient in a scenario of non-compliance with the legal framework that regulates the teaching profession in the Brazilian education system.