Brazil Faces Teacher Qualification Challenges and Low Investment Per Student, OECD Reports Reveal
OECD data shows Brazil struggles with teacher qualification gaps and invests substantially less per student than OECD averages, highlighting challenges in education quality and funding.
- • 9% of Brazilian basic education teachers lack full qualification, near the OECD average.
- • Brazil spends $4,133 per student annually, about one-third of the OECD average.
- • Teacher attrition rate in Brazil is 10.3%, higher than the OECD average of 6.4%.
- • Ministry of Education programs have increased teacher training enrollment by 106% between 2024 and 2026.
Key details
Recent OECD reports reveal notable challenges Brazil faces in its education sector, particularly concerning teacher qualifications and investment per student. Between 2024 and 2025, 9% of public basic education teachers in Brazil lacked full qualification, including requisite diplomas, certifications, or pedagogical training—close to the OECD average of 9.1%. This shortage is especially acute in remote and vulnerable areas, primarily affecting subjects like mathematics and natural sciences. Despite a 7% decline in student enrollment from 2015 to 2024, Brazil increased its number of teachers by 4%, though this growth remains below the OECD average increase of 13%. Notably, 10.3% of fully qualified Brazilian teachers left the profession in 2022, significantly higher than the OECD average of 6.4%. Moreover, teacher satisfaction levels are low, with only 22.3% satisfied with their salaries, compared to 38.7% on average in OECD countries, and just 44.3% satisfied with working conditions versus the OECD's 68.4%.
On the funding front, Brazil’s annual spending per student in 2023 stood at $4,133, representing about one-third of the OECD average of $13,601. This level of investment is also below that of several Latin American countries such as Chile ($5,794) and Costa Rica ($7,028) despite Brazil allocating a higher share of its GDP to education (4.5%) compared to the OECD average (4%). The Ministry of Education noted a decrease in education investment relative to GDP from 5.5% in 2015 to 4.6% in 2023. Spending per student rises with education level in Brazil, with $4,064 spent per primary student and $4,390 per lower secondary student, both figures far below OECD averages. Additionally, 75% of Brazil’s operational primary education budget goes to teacher salaries, lower than the OECD average of 79%.
To address these challenges, Brazil’s Ministry of Education has implemented initiatives like the Mais Professores para o Brasil program and the Pé-de-Meia Licenciaturas project, successfully increasing teacher training enrollments by 106% between 2024 and 2026. The ministry also promotes quality assessment in training and encourages professionals from other fields to teach; currently, 11.5% of teachers are career switchers.
Ricardo Henriques, Executive Superintendent of Instituto Unibanco, underscores that "teachers are central to student learning," emphasizing the need to value their work to improve Brazil's educational future. He also highlights that low per-student investment negatively impacts learning outcomes.
The OECD’s Education at a Glance 2026 and Panorama da Educação reports offer these insights, with Brazil participating since 1997. These findings signal an ongoing need for strategic investments and policies to strengthen teacher qualification and retention while enhancing financial support per student to boost education quality nationwide.
This article was translated and synthesized from Brazilian sources, providing English-speaking readers with local perspectives.
