About 35 thousand teachers will change schools

“This could be the biggest movement ever, and the positive thing is that 1,500 contractors are in the third priority directly in the group or school team, and not in the teaching zone (QZP). We have a case with a colleague who signed a contract with zero seniority. These 1,500 vacancies will be hired when there is a permanent need for them,” he said. CM Mário Nogueira (Fenprof), admitting that the change was made “by the previous government after a lot of pressure from Fenprof”. However, the leader warns that “this competition alone will not improve the situation of the teacher shortage”.

“Even with those 1,500 people, many of whom come from the private sector, it would take a big loss to see if they would stop doing research, and if you add in those graduating this year, it would be less than the 4,700 to 4,800 who will retire.”

Pedro Barreiros of FNE notes that “most of the placements were not in areas where there was a great need – [Lisboa, Setúbal e Algarve]”.

“In the top 10 QZPs with the largest number of placements, eight are in the North. There is a disproportion that needs to be addressed by increasing the number of students on teacher training courses in regions with a greater shortage of teachers,” the union leader defended, considering the “addition of 15,000 teachers over the past two years” to be positive.

There was some doubt as to whether teachers, who had been forced to compete across the country for fast-paced employment, would now be turned away. Barreiros says “there is no rejection.”

Nogueira assures that “there are colleagues who will not accept this” because they are far from home. A possible refusal will prevent them from participating in other competitions this academic year.