Around 2,500 teaching posts remain unfilled in Portuguese schools

On the day classes began in Portugal’s basic schools, 1,250 full teaching posts and roughly the same number of part-time posts remained unfilled. The total is around 2,500 posts, Education, Science and Innovation Minister Fernando Alexandre told RTP Antena 1.

According to the minister, 2,400 teachers had been placed the previous day, while about 2,000 sick leaves had been recorded. He said the situation was improving, but that problems in Greater Lisbon and the Setúbal Peninsula would take time to resolve.

The ministry is also preparing a new school-autonomy model intended to give headteachers more management powers in the next school year. The proposal is due to be presented in October, with the review completed by the end of the year.