Only 2,000 Teachers Placed in Schools as 17,000 Remain Unassigned in Portugal's Education Crisis

Teacher Placement Update

In the latest recruitment round for the 2024/2025 school year, only approximately 2,000 teachers have been successfully placed in schools out of 19,000 who are still seeking positions. The results of this recruitment were announced late on Monday.

The recruitment reserves are national competitions that remain open throughout the academic year to address emerging needs in schools. The necessity for placements in this recent round largely stems from the failure of major competitions held prior to the start of the school year, with the Government summarizing the situation as follows: “3,000 positions to fill, 19,000 teachers without placement, and 1,600 teachers on zero hours.” Most of these unassigned teachers are from the Northern region of the country.

Current Teacher Status

The 2,000 teachers who secured positions were primarily on contracts and were part of the initial 19,000 without placement. According to an analysis by Arlindo Ferreira, an education statistics expert, these positions are annual, with over 60% being full-time (22 hours of classes per week). This means that if these positions remain unfilled, students would lack a teacher for the entire academic year. The largest group of newly placed teachers comes from the 1st cycle.

Zero-Hour Teachers

Among the 1,600 teachers from the internal mobility competition who ended up with zero hours assigned, about 700 have now left this status. Additionally, 14 others were removed from the recruitment reserve lists after securing hours in their respective schools. Teachers in this category have less than six hours of teaching time and must compete until they find more hours, either at their current school or another.

Regional Disparities

The concentration of zero-hour teachers is still primarily in the Northern region, contrasting sharply with the high number of unfilled positions in Lisbon, Alentejo, and Algarve. This imbalance, highlighted by the Government in August, persists in the latest recruitment results. The next recruitment round is scheduled for September 9, just days before the school year begins on September 12.

Government Measures

In response to the August recruitment results, the Government has proposed two urgent measures (transport subsidies and extraordinary contracts) aimed at attracting more teachers to schools and regions most affected by the teacher shortage. However, these measures are still under negotiation with teacher unions, who express doubts regarding their effectiveness.

According to the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof), there remains a shortage of over 800 teachers, impacting 122,000 students without teachers for at least one subject.