Future teachers will once again have paid internships, which can reach 1,600 euros gross per month, according to a proposal by the Ministry of Education, which should come into force in the next school year.
After graduating with a degree in education, students go on to do a two-year master’s degree in teaching, the final year of which should become an internship in a school, if the government’s proposal is approved, which aims to pay interns the same as a teacher on the first step of their career, i.e. 1,604 euros gross.
The Ministry estimates that the diploma will be published later this year and that the more than two thousand students who have now started their master’s degrees in teacher training will be in schools by next school year.
The proposal, which began to be negotiated with the unions today, envisages giving these young people a minimum of 12 hours of teaching per week (half time), which means receiving at least 802 euros gross per month.
This is yet another measure to attract young people to teaching careers and thus respond to the growing shortage of teachers in schools, especially in the Lisbon and southern areas of the country.
The draft decree-law also covers kindergarten teachers who, in the next school year, will be able to do their training in nurseries, according to the Ministry’s proposal, which will support the increase in the number of places for children announced by the Ministry of Social Solidarity.
The Ministry of Education wants the master’s degree in teaching to be accessible to students who have completed a bachelor’s degree, but also to holders of master’s and doctoral degrees in the scientific areas covered by the respective recruitment group.
The government’s proposal also covers teachers who are already teaching with their own qualifications, in an attempt to retain these professionals in schools.
In cases where they have four years’ experience, the internship can be replaced by the public defense of an individual report.
In the case of teachers with master’s degrees or doctorates, the government’s proposal provides for the internship to be reduced to one semester, without prejudice to the attendance of curricular units.
“We don’t want to propose that someone who already has a master’s degree or a doctorate should do it as if they had a 12th grade degree,” explained a source from the Ministry of Education, stressing that these are people who already “have a very robust education”.
On the other hand, some schools will have internship centers and internship supervisors will be entitled to a reduction in their teaching time, up to a maximum of four hours, depending on the number of interns they are supervising.
Internship supervisors may also hold teaching positions in higher education.
The ministry also wants to give higher education institutions more autonomy so that they can have more power in defining the number of credits for degrees that give access to teaching.