This article brings a discussion about the precarization of the teaching work in higher education institutions in Brazil from 1980 to 2005. Taking the commercialization process in higher education as a reference, I try to identify and question about the main aspects of the teaching work precarization: (a) the growth of the teaching work force, mainly in the private field and at new state universities, where the present working conditions are generally precarious; (b) the commercialization of education, research and extension activities at public higher education institutions; and (c) the adoption of exclusively quantitative criteria for evaluating teaching work production and its consequences.
Teaching work; Precarization; Higher education