Courses to begin in October across four institutions
More than 1,036 new places for in-service professionalisation courses have been opened for teachers who lack formal pedagogical training, the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) has announced. The places are distributed across four institutions: the Universidade Aberta (672 places), the Universidade de Lisboa (181 places), and the polytechnic institutes of Beja (98 places) and Setúbal (85 places). The courses are scheduled to start in October, and roughly 80% of the places are already filled, according to MECI.
The initiative represents an investment of €5.5 million across four protocols and is fully funded by the ministry. Teachers who already hold a license in the scientific area of the subject they teach — known as "habilitação própria" — but who lack the pedagogical qualification required for the full teaching career are the target group. The measure is designed to address a shortage of qualified teachers that has affected Portuguese schools in recent years.
Conditional hires from 2024 given a path to permanence
The new places hold particular importance for educators recruited through the extraordinary external competitions of 2024/2025 and 2025/2026, the first such contests opened to entrants without professional qualification. These teachers entered the career on a conditional basis and have four years from the start of the first courses to obtain their pedagogical certification, consolidating their link to the profession.
According to MECI, the 2024/2025 competition saw 1,822 teachers placed in permanent positions, 893 of whom lacked pedagogical training. A further 1,639 teachers were placed in 2025/2026, with 697 lacking professional qualification. The ministry states that the current offer ensures that all teachers who entered provisionally with "habilitação própria" over the past two years now have conditions to complete the required training within the established deadline.
Duration depends on years of service
The length of the training varies based on teaching experience. For teachers with fewer than five years of service, the course lasts two years. For those with more than five years of service, the programme is completed in one year. The ministry describes the training as a formal course that does not confer an academic degree but provides the essential professional qualification for teaching.
The office of Minister Fernando Alexandre stated that pedagogical qualification is a "determining factor" for the quality of teaching practices and for student learning success. MECI defends the measure as "another step towards reinforcing stability and valuing the teaching profession," allowing more educators to complete their professionalisation without interrupting their duties.
Union criticism preceded the expansion
In October 2025, MECI had already contracted 300 places with the Universidade Aberta for a two-year course. However, several teachers' unions warned at the time that many educators already teaching in schools without pedagogical training could not access in-service professionalisation due to a lack of available places in higher education institutions.
The Federação Nacional dos Professores (Fenprof) has repeatedly criticised the ministry's handling of teacher recruitment and placement, arguing that such measures do not structurally address the underlying causes of the teacher shortage. The union has accused the government of "negotiating abuse" and of failing to present proposals for revising the Teaching Career Statute, while thousands of teaching hours remain unfilled each year.
