On this last day of the 1st school term, Missão Escola Pública (MEP) – a non-partisan movement of teachers – launches an alert about the worsening shortage of teachers, based on a study carried out in 88 school groups. In a statement, the movement states that 74% of school directors, from educational establishments in 18 districts, said they had had teacher-free schedules assigned for more than a week and 39% reported having at least one teacher-free schedule during the entire first period. Almost 50% were unable to assign schedules for more than a month and 51% currently still have at least one schedule to be filled, “evidence that the problem persists and worsens throughout the school year”, says the movement, in a statement.
Problem spreads across the country
The regional analysis carried out by MEP states that the lack of teachers is no longer a localized phenomenon. “In Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, 58.3% of groups operated the entire 1st period/Quarter with at least one time without a teacher, followed by the Algarve, where this situation affects 60% of responding schools. In the Center, 30.4% of groups report the same problem, and even in the North – the least affected region – 14.3% of schools had subjects without a teacher during the entire period. These data confirm that the shortage of teachers is it spread throughout the national territory”, can be read in the statement to which DN had access.
The 1st cycle of basic education stands out as one of the levels most affected by the lack of teachers. More than 14% of the groups report having had classes of this level without a teacher assigned throughout the 1st period, with “extreme cases – namely in the Lisbon district – in which up to eight 1st cycle classes remained without a teacher throughout the entire period”. “This situation is particularly serious, since, in the 1st cycle, the absence of a teacher means that children no longer have classes, with a direct impact on learning, evaluation and equity in the educational system”, laments the MEP.
“Teacher overload and emergency solutions become the rule”
MEP criticizes the measures implemented by the Government to address the problem of the lack of teachers and understands that the allocation of overtime, an “overload for teachers”, has become common practice.
According to the statement, 58% of the schools surveyed for the study indicate the allocation of overtime as the main measure to mitigate the lack of teachers, “there are groups with more than 50 overworked teachers”. “These numbers show that the regular functioning of schools is increasingly dependent on the additional effort of teachers, raising serious doubts as to the sustainability of this response”, highlights the document.
More teachers teaching without adequate training
One of the most worrying data, according to MEP, is the increasingly frequent use of teachers without teaching qualifications. The movement states that “more than 80% of groups have hours assigned to human resources without training in teaching”. “Although 65% of these groups refer to up to 10 timetables in this situation, there are extreme cases with more than 50 timetables given to people without teaching qualifications, signaling that this practice is no longer exceptional and has become part of the regular operation of some schools”, states the statement.