FENPROS - National Federation of Teachers warned on Monday, September 14, about the worsening problem of schools without teachers in Portugal. According to a survey conducted by the federation in the first two weeks of September, with 240 responses from school clusters (29.2% of the mainland), more than 110 thousand students did not have all their teachers last week. One third of school directors anticipate difficulties throughout the school year, with the most affected districts being Lisbon, Setúbal, Faro, Leiria, and Porto.
Comparing the week of September 7 to 11, 2026 with the week of September 8 to 12, 2025, the number of positions posted increased from 1,372 to 1,453 and the number of hours from 23,806 to 25,488, representing a growth of 6% and 7%, respectively. The problem worsened significantly in the district of Lisbon, where the number of annual and full-time positions went from 323 to 500. In the 1st Cycle of Basic Education, the number went from 112 positions to 175.
The federation also warned that, after the third recruitment reserve, there are 17,694 applications this year, corresponding to 12,951 candidates, a number only slightly higher than the previous year. More than half of the applications are concentrated in the Pre-School Education group and the two Physical Education groups. The number of unplaced teachers in the Initial Contracting phase decreased, going from 23,734 applications in 2025/2026 to 22,283 this year, while in the months of September and October, 1,102 teachers left through retirement, increasing pressure on the system.
FENPROS also criticized the decision of the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation not to hold local meetings for the definition of the school network at the end of the previous school year, which worsened the problem of enrollments. In the municipality of Sintra, 744 students still had no assigned school last week, of which 345 in the 1st CEB, 122 in the 2nd CEB, 144 in the 3rd CEB, 6 in VET, and 127 in secondary education. In Lisbon, there are approximately 550 students without a school, according to the newspaper Expresso.
