Teacher shortage will be 'a calamity' within five years

The secretary-general of the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof), Mário Nogueira, warned today that the lack of teachers “will be a calamity” within five years if nothing is done to recover those who have abandoned teaching.

In Covilhã, after leaving a plenary session with teachers to gather contributions for the proposal to review the Teaching Career Statute, which will be repeated in other areas of the country until March 7, Mário Nogueira stated that the only way to overcome the problem is to value the profession.

The union leader stressed that over the next five years more than twenty thousand teachers will retire and that in the first three months of this year alone 1,096 teachers will retire, almost as many as the vacancies open, 1,197, for new students who will begin training in the basic education course.

“In just three months, almost all of those who will be arriving here in five years have retired. If nothing is done to rehabilitate those who are already working, who are professionals and who have left, this will be a disaster,” warned the secretary general of Fenprof, at the session held in the district of Castelo Branco.

Mário Nogueira emphasized that more and more people are leaving the profession and that in the last seven years, in addition to those who retired, 15 thousand teachers have stopped teaching, who have left the teaching profession and must be retrained, to avoid “a disastrous situation”.

“The minister announced that he had increased the number of vacancies by 20% – 1,197 vacancies – but this is for young people who will start in September and arrive here in 2030, and we have a problem today”, highlighted the union leader.

According to the Fenprof director, the answer cannot be to count on retirees - “only 56 came” - nor postponing retirement, but rather creating attractive conditions for those who have already graduated to return to teaching.

Mário Nogueira stressed that this cannot be achieved by maintaining the same career, the same working conditions, the same salaries or by placing teachers hundreds of kilometres away from their homes, paying support to some and not to others.

“This way we will make the problem worse and, therefore, we need to look at the problem head on by reviewing the Teaching Career Statute, the way to value the profession and call on these young people”, advocated the union representative.

Mário Nogueira considered that this “appreciation is urgent” and must be in force at the beginning of the next school year.

He also criticized the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation for the process moving “at a snail’s pace”.

“Nobody really knows when we will finally have a new career. When will this career come into effect? ​​What will this career mean, both for the younger and the older ones, in terms of professional development? But we will demand that this development actually exists”, reinforced the Fenprof director.

A base salary of two thousand euros gross at the beginning of a career, recovering parity with senior technicians at the top of their career or going back to 26 years of service to reach the top of the career “without constraints”, as happens with vacancies in the echelons or evaluation quotas, are some of the proposals to be submitted to the supervisory authority.

The secretary-general of the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof), Mário Nogueira, warned today that the lack of teachers “will be a calamity” within five years if nothing is done to recover those who have abandoned teaching.

In Covilhã, after leaving a plenary session with teachers to gather contributions for the proposal to review the Teaching Career Statute, which will be repeated in other areas of the country until March 7, Mário Nogueira stated that the only way to overcome the problem is to value the profession.

The union leader stressed that over the next five years more than twenty thousand teachers will retire and that in the first three months of this year alone 1,096 teachers will retire, almost as many as the vacancies open, 1,197, for new students who will begin training in the basic education course.

“In just three months, almost all of those who will be arriving here in five years have retired. If nothing is done to rehabilitate those who are already working, who are professionals and who have left, this will be a disaster,” warned the secretary general of Fenprof, at the session held in the district of Castelo Branco.

Mário Nogueira emphasized that more and more people are leaving the profession and that in the last seven years, in addition to those who retired, 15 thousand teachers have stopped teaching, who have left the teaching profession and must be retrained, to avoid “a disastrous situation”.

“The minister announced that he had increased the number of vacancies by 20% – 1,197 vacancies – but this is for young people who will start in September and arrive here in 2030, and we have a problem today”, highlighted the union leader.

According to the Fenprof director, the answer cannot be to count on retirees - “only 56 came” - nor postponing retirement, but rather creating attractive conditions for those who have already graduated to return to teaching.

Mário Nogueira stressed that this cannot be achieved by maintaining the same career, the same working conditions, the same salaries or by placing teachers hundreds of kilometres away from their homes, paying support to some and not to others.

“This way we will make the problem worse and, therefore, we need to look at the problem head on by reviewing the Teaching Career Statute, the way to value the profession and call on these young people”, advocated the union representative.

Mário Nogueira considered that this “appreciation is urgent” and must be in force at the beginning of the next school year.

He also criticized the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation for the process moving “at a snail’s pace”.

“Nobody really knows when we will finally have a new career. When will this career come into effect? ​​What will this career mean, both for the younger and the older ones, in terms of professional development? But we will demand that this development actually exists”, reinforced the Fenprof director.

A base salary of two thousand euros gross at the beginning of a career, recovering parity with senior technicians at the top of their career or going back to 26 years of service to reach the top of the career “without constraints”, as happens with vacancies in the echelons or evaluation quotas, are some of the proposals to be submitted to the supervisory authority.

The secretary-general of the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof), Mário Nogueira, warned today that the lack of teachers “will be a calamity” within five years if nothing is done to recover those who have abandoned teaching.

In Covilhã, after leaving a plenary session with teachers to gather contributions for the proposal to review the Teaching Career Statute, which will be repeated in other areas of the country until March 7, Mário Nogueira stated that the only way to overcome the problem is to value the profession.

The union leader stressed that over the next five years more than twenty thousand teachers will retire and that in the first three months of this year alone 1,096 teachers will retire, almost as many as the vacancies open, 1,197, for new students who will begin training in the basic education course.

“In just three months, almost all of those who will be arriving here in five years have retired. If nothing is done to rehabilitate those who are already working, who are professionals and who have left, this will be a disaster,” warned the secretary general of Fenprof, at the session held in the district of Castelo Branco.

Mário Nogueira emphasized that more and more people are leaving the profession and that in the last seven years, in addition to those who retired, 15 thousand teachers have stopped teaching, who have left the teaching profession and must be retrained, to avoid “a disastrous situation”.

“The minister announced that he had increased the number of vacancies by 20% – 1,197 vacancies – but this is for young people who will start in September and arrive here in 2030, and we have a problem today”, highlighted the union leader.

According to the Fenprof director, the answer cannot be to count on retirees - “only 56 came” - nor postponing retirement, but rather creating attractive conditions for those who have already graduated to return to teaching.

Mário Nogueira stressed that this cannot be achieved by maintaining the same career, the same working conditions, the same salaries or by placing teachers hundreds of kilometres away from their homes, paying support to some and not to others.

“This way we will make the problem worse and, therefore, we need to look at the problem head on by reviewing the Teaching Career Statute, the way to value the profession and call on these young people”, advocated the union representative.

Mário Nogueira considered that this “appreciation is urgent” and must be in force at the beginning of the next school year.

He also criticized the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation for the process moving “at a snail’s pace”.

“Nobody really knows when we will finally have a new career. When will this career come into effect? ​​What will this career mean, both for the younger and the older ones, in terms of professional development? But we will demand that this development actually exists”, reinforced the Fenprof director.

A base salary of two thousand euros gross at the beginning of a career, recovering parity with senior technicians at the top of their career or going back to 26 years of service to reach the top of the career “without constraints”, as happens with vacancies in the echelons or evaluation quotas, are some of the proposals to be submitted to the supervisory authority.