Portugal earmarks 88 million euros for teachers as 265 timetables stay unfilled

Budget and measures against the teacher shortage

The education budget in the 2027 State Budget proposal (OE2027) comes to about 7.8 billion euros. Minister Fernando Alexandre put the increase at 5%, or more than 380 million euros on 2026, while SIC Notícias reported a 1.5% rise to 7.78 billion euros, and the articles do not reconcile the two figures. Personnel costs total 6,515.8 million euros, or 94.7% of the budget, and form the core of school financing. The government has set aside 88 million euros for measures against the teacher shortage under the Plano +Aulas +Sucesso, according to the budget note. SIC Notícias reported that about 41 million euros of that goes to overtime pay and six million to a 750 euro support payment for teachers who postpone retirement. The package also funds a partnership with higher education institutions to train teachers already in classrooms who lack a full qualification.

According to the ministry's note, the measures helped bring 5,535 new teachers into public schools in the last school year, including 1,008 who returned after at least a year away. A further 2,232 teachers agreed to extend their careers, and 7,122 received relocation support.

New teachers entering public schools5,535

Teachers who extended their careers2,232

Beneficiaries of relocation support7,122

New teachers entering public schools

5535

Teachers who extended their careers

2232

Beneficiaries of relocation support

7122

Data from the article text

265 unfilled timetables and disputed figures

The minister told parliament that 265 timetables remain unfilled, 164 of them full-time posts. Half concern first-cycle classes, especially in QZP 45 and 46, which cover schools in Greater Lisbon and the Setúbal Peninsula. From 14 December the ministry expects updated information on students without lessons. On that data system, the minister said:

“The process is practically complete and will be an extraordinary step forward.”

SIC Notícias reported that the ministry had dropped its plan to use lesson summaries, so the count will instead come from timetables without a teacher. The same outlet put the number of unfilled timetables at 770, a month and a half after the school year began, and cited a Fenprof estimate of around 56,000 students without full timetables. SIC added that exact figures are not yet known. The sources therefore give different counts of unfilled timetables, 265 and 770, and the articles do not reconcile them.

Fenprof protest outside parliament

Dozens of teachers gathered outside the Assembleia da República in Lisbon at 16:00 on 4 November, a protest called by the Federação Nacional dos Professores (Fenprof) on the day the minister appeared before parliament. Its secretary-general, José Costa, told Lusa:

“This budget proposal, once again, continues to disinvest in education.”

Costa estimated that three to four thousand first-cycle pupils currently have no teacher, arguing that the gap bites hardest in primary classes because each class has only one teacher. Fenprof also objects to a draft decree that would let teachers teach first-cycle classes without a master's degree, saying the government did not negotiate adequately and that it would request further negotiation. Costa said two years of meetings, 15 or 16 in total, had produced nothing on the career statute.

Union criticism of the funding level and next steps

Fenprof's written statement argues that funding remains well short of system needs and of the 6% of GDP investment target set by several international organizations. Its figures, given to Jornal Económico, put 2027 education spending at 7,787.9 million euros, 244.9 million more than the 2026 figure. With nominal GDP projected to grow 4.1% to about 334 billion euros, education would account for only 2.33% of GDP, so its weight among national priorities would decline. The union also raised concerns about higher education and science, citing a reduction in overall planned spending and a lack of stable funding. Other changes for the next school year include a pilot merging the first and second cycles, new curricula and a revision of essential learning standards, according to SIC Notícias. The budget also keeps 310 cultural and linguistic mediators in schools, with nine million euros more invested, and the new recruitment model published in the Diário da República on Tuesday, 3 November, adds internal and external competitions. The proposal is still under committee review in parliament.