Portuguese universities open over a thousand spots for teacher professional development

Four universities will open more than a thousand spots this year in professional development courses for teachers, the Ministry of Education announced today, noting that 80% of the places are already filled.

By TPN/Lusa, in News · 28 Sep 2026, 10:33 · 0 Comments

In a statement, the Ministry of Education, Science, and Innovation (MECI) said it arranged the opening of these 1,036 places through agreements with the Open University (Universidade Aberta), the University of Lisbon, and the polytechnic institutes of Beja and Setúbal.

The courses target teachers with a degree in the subject they teach but without pedagogical training; MECI funds them, representing a total investment of €5.5 million across the four agreements.

Until two years ago, teachers with subject-matter qualifications (*own qualification*) could teach but could not enter the formal teaching career without professional certification—which is granted through a Master’s degree in Education or in-service professionalisation courses.

Faced with a teacher shortage, the Government launched an extraordinary external recruitment drive at the start of the 2024/2025 academic year. For the first time, this was open to teachers without professional certification, allowing them to enter the teaching career conditionally, pending completion of pedagogical training—with a four-year window available after the launch of the initial courses.

According to Fernando Alexandre’s office, the availability of over a thousand places is now of “particular importance” for the teachers who secured permanent positions through these extraordinary recruitment drives.

The Open University offers the majority of the places (672), while the University of Lisbon accounts for 181 spots, alongside 98 in Beja and 85 in Setúbal.

Courses are scheduled to begin in October, and according to the Ministry, about 80% of the 1,036 places have already been filled.

For teachers with less than five years of service, the training program lasts two years, whereas for those with more than five years of service, it lasts only one year.

The MECI states that securing these positions ensures that all teachers who have obtained provisional employment, based on holding the required subject-matter qualification but lacking formal pedagogical training, over the past two years can complete the necessary pedagogical training within the timeframe required to secure a permanent contract.

In the extraordinary external recruitment process for 2024/2025, the first open to holders of the subject-matter qualification, 1,822 teachers joined the Ministry of Education’s permanent staff, 893 of whom lacked pedagogical training.

In 2025/2026, 1,639 teachers secured permanent positions, 697 of whom held the subject-matter qualification.

“This measure represents another step toward strengthening stability and valuing the teaching profession; it creates conditions for more teachers to complete their professional certification without interrupting their duties, while simultaneously helping to alleviate the teacher shortage and enhance the quality of education,” the ministry asserts.

In the same statement, Fernando Alexandre’s office emphasises that pedagogical qualification is a “determining factor” for the quality of teaching practices and for student learning success.

By October 2025, the MECI had already contracted with the Universidade Aberta to open 300 spots in a new two-year course; however, several teachers’ unions warned that many educators teaching in schools without pedagogical training still could not access in-service professional certification because of a lack of available places at higher education institutions.