Most teachers in Portugal are at least 50 years old and there are almost no teachers under 30 years old (0.6 percent), underlines the report from the CNE.

According to the CNE, a large majority of school teachers are expected to be retired by 2030: Of the nearly 90,000 teachers who were at least 45 years old in September, almost 52,000 (57.8 percent) will be able to retire in the next ten years.

By 2024, there will be 17,830 fewer teachers, 24,343 fewer in the next five years, and finally, between 2029 and 2030, another 10,000 will be able to leave the profession, according to a CNE study.

In schools, the greatest fall in teachers will be experienced in pre-school education (73 percent) and, in secondary schools, teachers from the disciplines of Portuguese, Social Studies / History, French, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Technological Education, Economics and Accounting, Philosophy, History and Geography will be those leaving.

The CNE defends the need of adopt measures, such as the urgent integration of more teachers in the system, and warns of the “low attractiveness of the teaching profession”.

An example of this is the gradual decrease in the number of students seeking courses in the area of education: Between 2011/2012 and 2017/2018 there was a decrease of about 50 percent of students, according to Lusa News Agency.

Career instability may be one of the reasons why young people do not want to enter the profession, largely thanks to stories of professionals who, for years on end, visit schools across the country to find work or are unable to stay in the school of their choice.