Primary school teachers are older, have too much work and too many students.

1st cycle teachers are older and work too many hours, according to Fenprof research, which shows many teach in dilapidated buildings with insufficient equipment and oversized classes.

Between the end of 2023 and the beginning of this year, the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof) conducted a survey on working conditions in the 1st cycle, to which thousands of teachers responded, a sample of “representative of the reality of schools and teachers.” “said trade unionist Catarina Oliveira.

Only 5% of the teachers teaching this Monday are under 40, said Catarina Oliveira, who is also a 1st cycle teacher and, despite being almost 48, “is considered by her colleagues to be a young woman.”

Nearly half of teachers (48.5%) are over 51 years of age, and the vast majority have been teaching for more than two decades.

The union leader stressed that experience can be an advantage, but “the wear and tear of years of service, coupled with increasing overload of tasks that have nothing to do with teaching, ultimately negates this advantage when it comes to working with children and children.” the required dexterity, as well as physical and mental abilities.”

Almost all teachers are class teachers (79.2%), their working hours significantly exceed the hours required by law, said José Feliciano Costa, deputy general secretary of Fenprof, at a press conference this Monday in Lisbon.

One in four classes (24.1%) exceeds the legal enrollment limit, and in classes where there are students requiring selective or additional measures, the situation is even more alarming.

According to the survey, 46% of these classes have more than 20 students, and a third of these classes support more children than required by law (the limit is two). According to Catarina Oliveira, there is a “double violation that has been facilitated by successive” governments.

There are also problems in classes with foreign students. The law requires the presence of a non-native Portuguese teacher if a school has more than ten immigrant students, but many have fewer and are not covered by this measure.

According to Catarina Oliveira, “77.5% of schools should be able to provide educational services to these children without the support of any teacher focused on learning Portuguese as a second language,” which almost always leads to overload of 1st cycle teachers. .

Most teachers (59%) believe that classes are too large and that the right to individual support, personalized interaction, and “classroom discipline and productivity” are at stake.

The survey also found that more than 40% of teachers are “coerced or pressured into taking breaks,” losing their statutory right to a break.

Meetings also take time away from personal life, according to 44.1% of respondents.

One in seven teachers attribute work overload to bureaucracy, which amounts to four or more hours of work per week for 60% of teachers.

“This overload primarily affects personal and family life (89.1%), mental health (76.2%), activity planning (70.7%) and resource production (70.1%).”

Only 13.3% of teachers over 60 use their time reductions, said Catarina Oliveira, explaining that teachers do not ask for reductions in the time they spend directly with students because they are often assigned equally tedious tasks.

Catarina Oliveira told the story of two teachers from the same school who asked for a reduction of five hours a week and were assigned as an alternative to their colleague’s class, “in other words, there was a day when they were in the classroom and went to teach in the next room.”

Almost half of the buildings (40.6%) require renovation, and 70% do not have sufficient equipment. The biggest failures are related to the Internet, computers and sports fields.