Portugal's Teachers Rank Among the OECD's Oldest and Least Content With Their Pay, as 664 Timetables Still Lack a Teacher
Only 13 percent of Portuguese lower secondary teachers are satisfied with their salary, the OECD finds, and 38 percent of secondary teachers are 55 or older. Three in four of the empty timetables are in the Lisbon region.
Portugal has one of the oldest teaching workforces in the developed world, and its teachers are among the least satisfied with their pay, according to the OECD's Education at a Glance 2026, published on Tuesday. This year's edition has a special focus on teacher shortages, and it landed on the same day Portugal's Education Minister, Fernando Alexandre, said schools were still looking for teachers to fill 664 timetables with pupils in some classes still without a teacher since the school year began.
An ageing profession
Across OECD countries, the share of primary and secondary teachers aged 55 and over rose from 20 percent in 2015 to 23 percent in 2024. The report names Portugal, with Estonia, Italy, Lithuania and Latvia, among the countries where that share was among the highest in 2024, and lists Portugal and Greece as having rapidly ageing workforces over the decade.
In secondary schools the gap with the rest of the labour market is stark. In Portugal, 38 percent of secondary teachers are 55 or older, against 22 percent of employed people holding at least a master's degree. Only a handful of countries, including France, Greece, Hungary and Lithuania, show a gap of that size.
The minister said about 4,000 teachers retire every year, with primary schools the biggest worry.
Low pay satisfaction and little recognition
The OECD says Portugal "stands out" for low satisfaction on two counts: only 39 percent of lower secondary teachers are satisfied with their employment conditions, and just 13 percent with their salary. Only 9 percent of Portuguese teachers agree that teaching is valued in society, against an OECD average of 22 percent.
The picture on pay is not simple. The report finds that teachers in Portugal earn more than other tertiary-educated workers at every level of schooling, one of only six countries where that is true. But the relative salaries of lower secondary teachers fell by more than five percentage points over the period the OECD examined, one of five countries with a drop of that size.
Job security is another weak point. Only 67 percent of Portuguese teachers are on permanent contracts, among the lowest shares measured, and 21 percent are employed on contracts of one school year or less.
Where the gaps are
Presenting the OECD figures in Lisbon, the minister said the number of unfilled timetables had fallen from 1,012 the previous week to 664, but that three in four of the full timetables still empty are in the Lisbon region. Of those, 238 concern primary school classes. The other shortages are concentrated on the Setúbal Peninsula and in the Algarve, both long identified by the ministry as short of teachers.
Mr Alexandre blamed "the inefficiency of the system" that matches schools with available teachers. The ministry has moved to a continuous recruitment competition, so teachers can be hired at any point in the year, and he said he has asked for a mobile app that would let qualified people see nearby vacancies and apply quickly. Agreements with 15 more higher education institutions to train teachers are due to be signed this month, extending a scheme that currently runs in 10.
Other findings for Portugal
The report also shows how far vocational education has spread: 19 percent of Portuguese 25 to 34-year-olds hold a vocational upper secondary qualification, against 2 percent of those aged 55 to 64, one of the few countries where the younger generation is far ahead. The OECD links this to reforms that expanded vocational courses in secondary schools.
At university level, Portugal is one of the few OECD countries where the state spends less per student in higher education than at any other level: about 8,239 euros a year in 2023, against an OECD average of about 14,428 euros, Lusa reported.
For immigrant families, the figures help explain why some children, particularly in Greater Lisbon, have gone without a teacher in one subject since September. Parents can ask their school's management about the status of an unfilled timetable and what cover is in place.
