Almost 90% of the lack of teachers in Portugal schools is due to sick leave
February 10, 2023
Original Article: https://www.dn.pt/sociedade/falta-de-professores-nas-escolas-deve-se-quase-sempre-a-baixas-medicas-15015382.html
The original article requires translation.
The Minister of Education said this Wednesday that the lack of teachers in schools over the last school year was almost always due to sick leave, stating that there is still no "widespread shortage".
"Throughout the school year, around 27,000 shifts were replaced, therefore 27,000 professionals were available at different times. The shortage of teachers in 87.5% of cases was due to absenteeism due to medical leave", said João Costa during a regimental hearing in the parliamentary committee on Education and Science.
For the Minister of Education, the main difficulty is related to the replacement of these teachers, especially in cases where layoffs are suspended and resumed with just one day apart.
Even so, the official admitted that the problem of a shortage of teachers will tend to get worse due to the increase in the number of retirements and the reduction in the number of new teachers.
To respond to this context, João Costa listed a set of 11 measures, including changes to the hiring of teachers approved last week by the Council of Ministers, which will allow the renewal of contracts with incomplete timetables and the filling of timetables in areas and subjects most affected.
In addition to these, the Ministry of Education will also reinforce the monitoring of situations of household illness "to assess cases in which the illness does not justify interruptions", it will reduce the size of staff in the pedagogical area to make available vacancies more attractive and reduce provision of teachers to other organisations, a measure which should lead to the return of 500 teachers to schools.
As of September, the Ministry of Education will also start the process of social consultation on the revision of the teacher recruitment and placement model, with the objective of creating "conditions for the permanent retention of more teachers in the school staff". and with the perspective of stabilizing his personal life in a territory".
Regarding the changes that are on the table, the minister was later questioned by the Social Democrat deputy Carla Madureira about what measures were planned to resolve the situation of teachers already linked, but placed away from home.
"We don't work where we live, we live where we work. What is not rational is telling people that they have to work in different places every three or four years", replied the minister, adding that the objective is to ensure greater stability for teachers.
As for teacher training, the Minister of Education indicated that a review of qualifications for teaching is being prepared, and a working group will be created with a view to reviewing the requirements for access to Masters in Education.
The same group will also be in charge of proposing in-service professionalization models "which may involve different ways of attending professional training and providing training for professionals who wish to return to the profession".
João Costa also indicated that paid professional internships will be resumed and that the guardianship has already asked higher education institutions to increase the number of vacancies for courses in the area of Education.