“The publication of a new ordinance on vacancies, now announced, confirms exactly what FNE had warned: the initial vacancies were poorly assessed, and the analysis of the schools’ needs was, at the very least, incomplete and rushed,” emphasized the federation.
The extraordinary competition at stake is for schools struggling the most with recruitment, which commenced on October 28 with 1,800 vacancies.
In the early days of the competition, FNE reported the absence of available positions for Physics and Chemistry teachers, cautioning that these educators are needed and are often being replaced by non-professionalized teachers.
At the time, the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation assured that there were teachers available for those subjects, justifying the lack of opened positions, but announced just days later that it would review the number of available positions.
Without changing the total of 1,800 vacancies, the ministry reinforced some subjects, reallocating slots from others: for Physics and Chemistry, for example, 47 positions have now been made available.
“With this correction, the MECI does not acknowledge the error, does not explain the reasons behind the situation, nor does it respond to those who timely warned about the issue,” lamented the FNE in a statement.
According to the latest ordinance on vacancies, slots have doubled for the recruitment group of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education, and there have also been reinforcements for Special Education, 1st cycle English, Portuguese and Social Studies/History, and Portuguese and French for the 2nd cycle, as well as in the 3rd cycle and secondary English, Economics and Accounting, Biology and Geology, Electrotechnics, and Visual Arts.
However, since the Ministry decided not to alter the total of 1,800 vacancies in the competition, all other recruitment groups are losing positions.
In addition to revising the ordinance on vacancies, the government also decided to extend the competition until 11:59 p.m. on November 21, a week longer than the initially scheduled date of November 14.
Amid these changes, teachers who have already submitted applications will be able to alter their choices.
Advocating for transparency, rigor, and responsibility, FNE criticizes the “false start” in the hiring process and adds that the Ministry must review its procedures to ensure fairness in access to permanent employment.
