Only 22% of schools do not have a teacher shortage
There is a shortage of at least one teacher in 78% of public schools, and 38 schools have more than 10 unfilled schedules, the overwhelming majority in the Lisbon and Setúbal Peninsula areas, according to official data. The Ministry of Education, Science, and Innovation (MECI) released this Monday, a week after the official start of the 2025/2026 school year.
Preschool, special education, Portuguese in the 3rd cycle and IT are the areas where the shortage of teachers is greatest
According to data from the Agency for the Management of the Education System, as of September 17, there were requests from schools to fill 2,410 timetables, of which 1,042 (43%) were full.
In the universe of 810 school groups or non-grouped schools, at least one teacher was missing in 635 (78%), but there are 38 establishments where the situation is more serious.
In these 38 schools, there were more than 10 unfilled time slots, and 11 of them lacked at least 10 teachers for full time slots.
The most recent data contrasts with the assessment made by the Minister of Education, Fernando Alexandre, on the eve of the start of the school year, when he guaranteed that in at least 98% of schools students would have classes in all subjects, since all teachers were already placed.
Difficulties in recruiting teachers continue, particularly in the Lisbon and Setúbal Peninsula areas.
Recalling that the public school teaching staff totals around 130,000 teachers, the Ministry of Education (MECI) now emphasizes that "with a teaching staff of this size, it is expected that, throughout the school year, there will be unfilled schedules", following retirements, sick leave or maternity and parental leave.
Therefore, the Ministry implemented, at the beginning of last week, a new placement process, with recruitment reservations every three working days (until now, recruitment reservations were weekly), allowing placement to be “twice as fast”.
On the other hand, MECI highlights as a priority the reduction of the number of unfilled time slots during prolonged periods.
"It is crucial to identify schools with structural teacher needs, which are reflected in long-term unfilled schedules. Solving these structural problems requires targeted measures for these schools," the ministry states, citing measures such as holding an extraordinary competition to hire approximately 1,800 teachers in the most disadvantaged regions or providing increased support for teachers relocated to these areas.
There are 16,400 teachers with professional qualifications who have not yet been placed.
Last week, the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof) insisted that there are more teachers missing at the start of this school year than in the previous one, stating that the timetables available correspond to more than 100,000 students.
Without mentioning the trade union federation, the Ministry of Education (MECI) now emphasizes again that the identified needs “do not directly correspond to the number of students without classes, given that principals have tools to ensure that students have classes,” for example, by assigning overtime.
As we return to school, the government has insisted that it is not possible to accurately count how many students are missing classes in at least one subject. A new information system is currently being created to access this data and should be completed during the school year.
