In a press conference in Lisbon, Francisco Gonçalves highlighted that the 2024/2025 academic year is marked by the worsening of the main issue in education this decade, which is the shortage of teachers.
The problem is expected to escalate, with projections showing around 4,000 teachers retiring annually over the next five years, compared to the hiring of only 1,200 to 1,800 new educators.
To assess the teacher shortage over the past two academic years, they examined the number of unfilled positions in the national recruitment reserve that progressed to school-based hiring.
According to Fenprof, “in 2024/2025, despite a decrease in the number of available positions, the number of hours for those positions increased,” meaning that the number of students without teachers also rose.
Francisco Gonçalves noted the significant impact of three measures from the “Plano +Aulas +Sucesso,” which included offering overtime, utilizing unqualified individuals, and employing teachers eligible for retirement, totaling 1,494 according to Ministry data.
Regarding the availability of teachers for hiring, the union leader pointed out that “the number of teachers potentially available for initial hiring or subsequent recruitment reserves has been constantly falling.”
He added that in the 2023/2024 academic year, the number stood at 24,845, which dropped to 20,051 in 2024/2025.
“This means that for the upcoming academic year, we have the lowest number of teachers available for hire in recent years,” he stated.
Francisco Gonçalves attributes this situation to “the significant increase in permanent appointments in recent years, as well as the low number of new entrants compared to the high number of retirees.”
As for retirements, he acknowledged the high number expected in 2025, with 2,054 teachers retiring in the first seven months, and 3,981 over the entire year of 2024, “an exit rate that cannot be matched by the number of new entrants.”
“Overall, we have more students affected by the teacher shortage, fewer available teachers, and a high retirement rate that will not be compensated by new entrants. Therefore, the problem will worsen,” he warned.
Francisco Gonçalves argued that the measures from the “Plano +Aulas, +Sucesso” will not solve the teacher shortage and stressed the need for structural measures, identifying the revision of the Teaching Career Statute as the most important.
Fenprof also advocates for the introduction of incentives to encourage teachers to work in underserved areas, travel support equal to the amount paid in Public Administration, more positions in school groups and standalone schools, and career enhancement with shorter career paths and three-year tiers.
The organization also demands improved work schedules and conditions, full recovery of service time, and compensation for teachers who have not recovered all or part of their service time.
In Gonçalves’ view, solving this issue relies on how quickly the Ministry of Education advances the revision of the Teaching Career Statute, noting that the solution is not to overburden existing teachers or persuade retirees to return to teaching.
