Minister promises to value teachers and non-teaching staff

The Minister of Education, Science and Innovation committed to valuing all professionals working in schools, in letters sent to principals, teachers and non-teaching staff to mark the start of the school year, and to which Lusa had access.

The letters, which Lusa had access to, are addressed to principals, teachers and non-teaching staff and began to be sent to all schools on Wednesday, the eve of the start of the 2025/2026 school year.

As he did last year, Fernando Alexandre once again committed to valuing professionals, recalling the challenges faced in education and the path he began to follow while still a minister in the previous government.

To teachers, he said he wanted them to have “an increasingly stable and predictable professional life , which makes the teaching profession compatible with their family life.”

Bringing forward placement competitions and holding an extraordinary recruitment competition are two of the government's responses to this objective, writes Fernando Alexandre, who also mentions the imminent start of the review of the Teaching Career Statute.

The objective, he anticipates, is “the appreciation and recognition of the profession, but also an improvement in working conditions”.

On the other hand, the minister also promised to evaluate and review the transfer of powers to local authorities, review the legislation that regulates the autonomy, administration and management of schools and move forward with the proposal to create the Director's Statute.

In the letter sent to school leaders, Fernando Alexandre emphasized that “your leadership, dedication, and commitment sustain the schools, inspiring and motivating teachers and students.”

He also highlighted, addressing non-teaching staff, the role of specialized technicians, assistants and auxiliaries in ensuring a “healthy school environment, which allows for the integral development of students”, and committed to also valuing these professionals, giving “greater attention to the qualification needs for the performance of non-teaching educational functions”.

The 2025/2026 academic year begins with several new features in the structure of the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, which will now be made up of fewer structures.

In the non-higher education system, two entities are created — the Agency for the Management of the Education System and the Institute of Education, Quality and Assessment — which will replace eight structures that will be extinguished.

The change is also addressed in letters sent to teachers and principals, to whom the minister assures that the new structure will simplify processes, facilitate interaction with the Ministry, and ensure consistency in educational policies.

"In the future, schools, administrations, and teachers will be able to focus on what truly matters and what truly motivates them: the noble mission of teaching, improving the learning of all students, and the quality of the educational process," reads one of the letters.

Once again, a teacher shortage marks the return to school and the beginning of a school year in which schools will continue to lose hundreds of teachers to retirement.

Taking the opportunity to thank these professionals, the minister also urges them to take advantage of the final years of their careers "to support younger teachers, passing on their in-depth knowledge of the educational process."

"I know the path isn't always easy, but I'm certain that together, with your commitment and dedication, we will be able to overcome the challenges of today and the future and, thus, achieve increasingly better results," he concludes.

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