An analysis of secondary school rankings shows that schools in municipalities with the highest growth in foreign student population experienced the largest drops in performance rankings between 2023 and 2025.
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Schools have received 380 late enrollment requests for the current school year, with the majority coming from foreign students. Meanwhile, there are 563 teacher vacancies, concentrated in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and the Setúbal Peninsula.
With 340 teachers missing in the 1st cycle, schools are combining classes, scattering students across multiple years, redistributing resources, and having school directors step in to teach. Parents have expressed concern and warned of growing educational inequalities.
New data from the Ministry of Education for the 2023/2024 school year shows that only 55% of foreign students complete secondary education within the expected three-year period, compared to 79% of Portuguese students. In the first cycle (1st to 4th grade), 77% of foreign students finish without repeating a year, compared to 94% of their Portuguese counterparts. School directors are calling for more autonomy to hire teachers for Portuguese as a Non-Native Language (PLNM).