150 thousand teachers marched in Lisbon demanding respect for the teaching profession.
It was probably the largest teachers' demonstration ever held in Portugal". This was the conclusion of all those who saw in person or on television the images of so many teachers marching through the central streets of Lisbon, down to the Tagus River, on the occasion of the demonstration of 11 February 2023, which brought together all the education unions in the country and took place on Avenida da Liberdade, between Praça do Marquês de Pombal and Praça do Comércio, on a route on foot of about 2.5 km.
When the main banner of the demonstration reached the stage in Praça do Comércio thousands of teachers had not yet left the starting point.
Susan Flocken, Director of the European Trade Union Committee for Education - ETUCE (European Region of Education International - EI), took part in the demonstration at the invitation of the Portuguese ETUCE member organisations and encouraged the demonstrators to continue to fight to value Education and its professionals.
— ETUCE European Trade Union Committee for Education (@ETUCE_CSEE) February 13, 2023
On the stage of Praça do Comércio, Manuela Mendonça(EI Executive Board - Europe) read a solidarity message sent by David Edwards, EI General Secretary, who highlighted that the demands of the Portuguese teachers and those of EI new campaign “Go Public, Fund Education!” could not be more in tune.
In turn, José Augusto Cardoso, Secretary General of the CPLP-SE (Trade Union Confederation for Education of Portuguese Speaking Countries) also addressed the demonstrators, highlighting the relevant role of education and teachers.
The demonstration took place in the middle of a negotiation process of the trade unions with the Ministry of Education, which is not bearing the desired fruits. The problems affecting teachers’ working and living conditions are endangering the future of the profession and the quality of public school in Portugal. With Portuguese teachers at the limit of their discontent, the demands are centred on respect, improvement of living and working conditions of education professionals and a salary increase, which is increasingly urgent, in a situation of high inflation rates.
For unions and teachers, support for mobility, a performance evaluation without quotas and vacancies, the end of precariousness, the respect for working time limits, the end of excessive bureaucracy, the rejuvenation of the teaching profession, a dignified retirement and a valued and recognised profession are urgently needed.
But among all these, there is one demand that teachers will not give up on. This is the just recovery for career purposes of 6 years, 6 months and 23 days of service time frozen during the time of the Troika - the financial rescue programme that Portugal was subjected to, between May 2011 and May 2014.
The continued lack of recognition and devaluation of the teaching profession is having a very negative effect on young people in Portugal who, for the most part, do not see any attraction in becoming teachers. Added to this fact, due to the age factor, a high percentage of teachers will retire in the next ten years. From this we conclude that the need for hiring unqualified teachers - which is already occurring today - could become extremely acute in the coming years.
As a form of pressure, between 13 and 17 February, the trade unions are promoting a Week of Struggle and Mourning in schools, with daily protests. For this purpose, black banners will be posted on walls and railings, with concentrations of teachers in front of their schools to highlight the demands and the reasons for the multiple discontents.
On 15 and 17 February there is a new round of negotiations between unions and the Ministry of Education, about the new Regime for Recruiting Teachers. If there is no agreement between the parties, the unions will promote another two days of strike and demonstrations: the first on 2 March, impacting northern Portugal (demonstration in Porto), and the second on 3 March, impacting southern Portugal (demonstration in Lisbon).
This is one of the messages which express the reasons for all these protests, which have marked public debate on the media and in Portuguese society: "If you want a better education, take care of teachers’ well-being".
