Lack of jobs for teachers causes controversy

Download article in original language : PT0010116NPT.DOC

In October 2000, the Portuguese Ministry of Education and teachers' trade unions clashed over problems in the annual nationwide application and placement process for teachers. For the 2000-1 school year, many applicants for teaching positions were left jobless and only a small number of job openings were made available.

The annual nationwide teacher placement process for primary and secondary school teachers caused controversy between trade unions and Ministry of Education in October 2000. The National Teachers' Federation (Federação Nacional dos Professores, FENPROF) asserts that only 3,323 applicants out of 36,917 managed to secure teaching positions for the 2000-1 academic year, which means that a total of 33,594 applicants were left jobless. The Ministry of Education has refuted these data, stating that the 48,864 applications handed in is not a reflection of the number of teachers applying for jobs, since many teachers put in more than one application. The Ministry asserts that a total of 29,999 teachers applied and that 3,333 were placed in schools.

The Teachers' Union of Central Region (Sindicato de Professores da Região Centro, SPRC) attributes the shortage of placements to the facts that:

• a number of teaching positions are not being filled after teachers have been transferred to other schools;

• some teachers have been placed twice in the same school; and

• the government grants subsidies to private schools which are perceived as enticing students away from public schools.

The Ministry of Education has stated that:

• although the number of public school enrolments has gone down, 10,000 new teaching positions have been created;

• the general surplus of applicants is accompanied by a shortfall of teachers in certain academic subjects; and

• there are not enough applicants for jobs in schools in outlying areas and places where teachers are most needed.

For FENPROF, more openings for teachers can be created by an improvement in working conditions and in work organisation, a reduction of class sizes, various new projects currently under development, and the lowering of the retirement age for teachers. For SPRC, one of the main solutions to the placement problem would be streamlining and improving the application process by calculating the number of positions available much earlier. The Democratic Teachers' Union of the Azores (Sindicato Democrático dos Açores, SDPA) has demanded that in 2001-2 all certified teachers should be hired.

FENPROF announced that teachers would stage a demonstration at the end of October to demand greater job stability while a group of teachers in employment is to lodge a formal complaint against the Ministry of Education to the General Labour Inspectorate (Inspector Geral do Trabalho) and the European Court of Human Rights.

One positive development for the unplaced teachers is that, after a number of years, unemployment benefits were finally granted for teachers some months ago. The unions, however, have demanded back-payment, and called for certain restrictions on granting these unemployment benefits to be lifted .