“Next academic year, many students will again be without classes,” stated Filinto Lima, President of the National Association of Directors of Groupings and Public Schools (ANDAEP), emphasizing that the more than 11,000 positions available in the teaching competitions will not suffice to meet the needs.
The two competitions, concluding on Wednesday, offered 5,623 positions for contracted teachers to join permanent staff and 5,433 open school positions, allowing teachers to apply to different schools.
“The competitions are now annual but do not solve the problem, which will only be resolved much later, in 2030,” remarked Lima, who also serves as director of the Dr. Costa Matos School Grouping in Vila Nova de Gaia.
For several years, the regions of Lisbon, Alentejo, and the Algarve have been identified as the most problematic, and it is in these areas that more positions have now opened: Of the total 11,056 slots, 4,305 (39%) are allocated to Greater Lisbon, Setúbal Peninsula, Alentejo, and Algarve areas.
However, Lima predicts that these slots will not be sufficient to cover the departures triggered by teacher retirements.
The Ministry of Education had clarified that the needs were identified by schools in coordination with the Directorate-General for School Administration (DGAE), taking into account criteria such as the current teaching staff in different subjects, the projected total number of students, and the teaching hours required for the next academic year.
The assessment also considered the number of teachers unable to teach, the scarcity of teachers, and the historical recruitment difficulties, based on vacancies not filled in temporary needs until the second recruitment reserve.
In the end, there were 4,729 “negative slots,” corresponding, for instance, to teachers who will retire from the start of the next academic year or teachers without an assigned teaching component.
However, Lima noted that these measures will not suffice, highlighting that special education students are the most affected.
ANDAEP’s President criticized the administration for continuing to offer too few openings for special education teachers: “This is a poorly treated recruitment group; it’s the poor relative of education, as we have more and more students with specific needs, yet not significantly more slots available.”
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