At least one teacher is missing in 78% of public schools, with 38 institutions facing more than 10 unfilled teaching positions, predominantly in the Lisbon and Setúbal Peninsula areas, according to official data.
This assessment was made today by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Innovation (MECI), a week after the official commencement of the 2025/2026 school year.
“This contradicts what the minister stated at the beginning of the school year. There is indeed a problem from north to south, concentrated in the Greater Lisbon area, but it is also expanding northward,” said Francisco Gonçalves, secretary-general of the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof), to Lusa news agency.
The Agency for the Management of the Educational System reported that as of September 17, schools had requests for 2,410 teaching slots, of which 1,042 (43%) were fully assigned.
Among the 810 school groupings or standalone schools, at least one teacher was missing in 635 (78%), but in 38 schools, the situation is more severe.
These 38 schools reported more than 10 unfilled positions, with at least 10 full-time teachers lacking in 11 of them.
On September 10, Education Minister Fernando Alexandre assured that in at least 98% of schools, students would have classes in all subjects, as all teachers had been placed.
“In Porto, problems related to the shortage of teachers are also beginning to arise and as the year progresses (…) there will be cases in certain recruitment groups without a solution,” stated the Fenprof official.
Francisco Gonçalves noted that the situation is likely to worsen due to anticipated teacher retirements in the coming months and the lack of qualified candidates for specific subjects.
“In the Greater Lisbon area, at the moment, there are five to ten missing teachers in the first cycle, leading to situations where students are at home without classes and schools are distributing responsibilities among school coordinators, librarian teachers, and special education teachers,” he explained.
According to Gonçalves, in special education cases, the relocation of teachers may leave students with special needs unsupported if those teachers are “assigned to solve another problem,” which is “the absence of first-cycle teachers.”
