Brazil Faces Rapid Aging of High‑School Teaching Force, Study Warns

Overview

• Semesp presented the second edition of its ‘Apagão dos Professores’ study at FNESP on Sept. 16, 2026, reporting a 31.1% drop in high‑school teachers aged 24 or younger and a 104.5% rise in teachers aged 60 or older between 2015 and 2025.
• The institute’s Taxa de Renovação Docente, the ratio of teachers 24 or younger to those 60 and over, fell from about 0.95 in 2015 to 0.32 in 2025 and is projected to fall to 0.17 by 2040, signaling far weaker replacement capacity.
• Public systems increased reliance on temporary contracts while stable positions declined: temporary high‑school teachers rose from 146,000 to 205,000 (a 40.4% increase) and tenured or concurso‑based teachers fell from roughly 305,000 to 255,000.
• The teacher pipeline is weakening with a 13.5% drop in licenciatura graduates from 2015–2024, growth in older-distance (EAD) entrants, average high‑school pay near R$6,500 in 2025 that trails other college‑educated workers, and heavy workloads that push many to consider leaving.
• The study highlights acute shortfalls in subjects such as Geography, History and Portuguese and repeats an earlier projection of a potential multi‑hundred‑thousand teacher deficit by 2040, urging policy action on pay, career progression, recruitment and teacher training to avoid loss of class continuity and subject availability.