The decree opening up more than 20,000 vacancies in school groupings and non-grouped schools was published on Tuesday in the Diário da República, setting out the vacancies for the internal and external competitions for teachers.
“Since many teachers still work in establishments far from their home areas, the annual and synchronous internal and external competitions make it possible to provide all teachers in post with opportunities to be placed in group (QA) and school (QE) boards, as well as to move closer to their home areas, based exclusively on their preferences and professional qualifications,” the law states.
According to the decree, in order to meet these objectives, “without prejudice to strict needs management criteria (…) more than 20,000 vacancies will be opened up in school groupings and non-grouped schools, allowing all those interested to fill them and, at the same time, a first very significant reduction in QZP teaching zone staff, through the transition to QA/QE”.
The law states that the number of vacancies on the staff of school groupings and non-grouped schools (AE/EnA) and on the staff of pedagogical zones (QZP) is set in accordance with “projections of changes in the number of pupils and the educational and training offer”.
“Existing projections point to an increase in the number of teachers leaving in the coming years, not accompanied by a similar decrease in the number of students, which has actually increased in several regions of the country. In addition, although the projections for the evolution of the number of pupils point to a reduction, this has no immediate significant effect on the reduction in the number of classes, implying only a reduction in the number of pupils per class in some municipalities in the country, where the public provision of education must be safeguarded,” the decree states.
It also indicates that the opening of vacancies in the school staff takes into account the needs that have been expressed by public schools by the beginning of each school year, in the last three years, corresponding to full annual timetables.
“The application of mechanisms to identify the permanent needs of public schools, together with mechanisms to combat precariousness, now make it possible to offer a wider range of opportunities for contract teachers, continuing the fight against precarious teaching,” explains the law.
It states that the Program of the XXIII Constitutional Government made a commitment to guarantee public schools, “in a sustainable way, the number and quality of teachers needed to carry out their mission”.
Among other things, the decree notes that “the vacancies determined and filled in the first dynamic recruitment procedure carried out in 2023” were taken into account when setting vacancies.
The government order was issued by the Minister of Finance and the Secretary of State for Public Administration and the Secretary of State for Education.
