What Is Justice in Education with Temporary Teachers? the Situation in Brazil and France

This paper discusses the relationships and working conditions of Brazilian and French teachers. The hypothesis is that both countries are moving towards flexible hiring measures, especially in more socially vulnerable areas. Labour relations are understood as the legal device responsible for regulating the contract to be signed between employer and worker, including rights, working hours and salary. It is therefore distinct from the concept of working conditions (Gollac and Volkoff, 2007), since these are alluded to both the environmental character of the workplace, such as lighting, temperature, ventilation, the presence of toxic substances, among other aspects, as well as those associated with work management, evidenced by forms of pressure, the establishment of the pace of work and the adoption of strategies that end up being configured as moral harassment and, therefore, conceived as agents that cause psychosocial damage, especially since the recent configurations of work management lead to: ‘excessive pressure, career insecurity, lack of autonomy, isolation, ethical conflicts... jeopardise the well-being and social integration of many workers’ (CINGOLANI, 2012, p. 114)

Despite the construction of equality since the French Revolution and the Welfare State, precarious contracts among teachers are growing and are more abundant in the poorest areas of the Paris region; in Brazil, on the other hand, precarious labour relations reach high levels in poorer states, as well as reaching 100% in schools on the outskirts of Campinas, a municipality located in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Poor working conditions are invariably linked to labour management, which is aggravated by temporary work. Equality in the provision of education is problematised in the absence of stable contracts that make it possible to select qualified professionals with job stability.