98.3 % of teaching needs filled at beginning of school year in Azorean schools - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Educação, Cultura e Desporto

The Regional Secretary for Education, Culture and Sport, Sofia Ribeiro, stated that "98.3% of the schools’ teaching needs for the next school year have been met" and there are “134 more teachers on the staff” than there were at the beginning of the previous year when there was “a decrease of 800 students."

The Secretary for Education stated that 412 vacancies had been opened in the recruitment process, "less than in the previous year" due to the "increase in the number of teachers that have joined the regional teaching staff."

During the four-year term of office of the coalition Government, more than 700 teachers have joined the regional teaching staff. 

"The unprecedented placement of teachers in the regional teaching staff gives us the stability that we have achieved in the education system, ensuring that our schools are staffed with duly qualified teachers," she stressed.

Only 88 of the 412 vacancies were not filled, but "there are still 460 qualified teachers available."

"These are teachers who were not placed, as they did not apply to those schools, but who may now be placed when the public employment exchange is launched," she explained.

The Regional Secretary also pointed out that the five subjects with the highest number of unfilled vacancies are Elementary Education, with nine vacancies; Special Education - elementary education, with eight vacancies; Portuguese - secondary school, with seven vacancies; Piano, with seven vacancies; and Computer Science, with six vacancies.

At the moment, she revealed, the Regional Secretariat is "analysing the situation island by island" and "subject by subject" to "review the characteristics of the teachers on staff, teachers relocated to the Azores and hired teachers" with a view to assessing the possibility of “reallocating teaching duties.”

"What we are doing is resorting as little as possible to hiring through the public employment exchange, so that we can guarantee greater support for students with duly qualified teachers," stressed Sofia Ribeiro.