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OECD PISA 2025 · data story

Portugal’s next education challenge is who will teach

Thirty-eight percent of Portugal’s secondary teachers are 55 or older. Only 13.4% of lower-secondary teachers report satisfaction with their salary. The workforce context matters for the future of learning.

Education at a Glance 2026 · Portugal and OECD · 2024–2025

Teacher ageing, low salary satisfaction and short contracts create a workforce challenge for Portugal. These indicators describe the conditions around learning; they do not establish that staffing caused the PISA decline.

PISA describes what 15-year-olds can do in reading, mathematics and science. Education at a Glance 2026 describes the adults and institutions that make classroom learning possible. Read together, the two sources show a system dealing with a difficult staffing horizon.

38%of Portugal’s secondary teachers are 55 or older
13.4%satisfied with salary, compared with 38.7% across the OECD
21%of lower-secondary teachers have contracts of one school year or less

Portugal’s teaching workforce is older than the OECD average

In 2024, 38% of secondary teachers in Portugal were aged 55 or older. The OECD average was 25%. An older workforce does not tell us when teachers will retire, yet it does point to a larger replacement question than the student count alone reveals.

More than one in three secondary teachers are 55+

Share of secondary teachers aged 55 or older · 2024

Source: OECD Education at a Glance 2026, Portugal country note.

Only 13% of teachers report salary satisfaction

Only 13.4% of Portugal’s lower-secondary teachers reported satisfaction with their salary in 2024. The OECD average was 38.7%. Satisfaction with employment conditions was also lower in Portugal: 39.1%, compared with 68.4% across the OECD.

Teacher satisfaction trails the OECD average on both measures

Lower-secondary teachers reporting satisfaction · 2024

These are self-reported measures. They describe how teachers view their conditions; they do not measure teaching quality.

Demography reduces demand while recruitment still matters

Portugal’s number of primary teachers increased 1% between 2015 and 2024 while the number of primary students fell 8%. The population aged 5–14 is projected to fall 6% between 2024 and 2033 if current policies remain unchanged. That demographic direction can reduce overall demand, while regional distribution, class sizes, teacher attrition and subject shortages still shape where vacancies appear.

Starting salaries add another pressure point. Portugal’s statutory starting salaries for teachers fell 10% between 2015 and 2025. Across OECD countries, they rose by 18–20%. Portugal also had 21% of lower-secondary teachers on contracts lasting one school year or less, compared with 14% across the OECD.

The connection to PISA: Portugal’s scores describe student performance at one point in the education system. The workforce data describe the system’s capacity to sustain classroom support over time. The evidence supports a story about recruitment, retention and replacement, while leaving the causes of the PISA decline open.

See the teachers and staffing section on the full dashboard →