Crisis in the 2025 teaching exams: "The number of vacant positions and failures should set off alarm bells."

PalmThe shortage of teachers is one of the main problems of the islands' education system, compounded by the increase in student numbers and their needs. In the 2025 teaching competitions, only 55% of places have been filled, according to data from the SIAU union. However, the difference between the islands is abysmal. 100% of the places in Mallorca (8) have been filled; 88% of those in Menorca (32); but only 40% of those in Ibiza (40 of 98); and 37.5% of those in Formentera (3 of 8). Only 43% of the teaching positions offered in the Pitiusas have resulted in a permanent position.

In Ibiza, there are specialties with a particularly bleak situation. This is the case of Therapeutic Pedagogy, an essential discipline for the care of children with special educational needs (NESE and SEN). Twenty-nine places were selected and five were awarded. The situation is even worse in Hearing and Language, with 11% coverage. Above that are English Language (22%), Physical Education (66%), Primary Education (66% of places awarded), and Early Childhood Education, with 12 of the 15 places already awarded.

In Formentera, although the overall impact may seem smaller because fewer staff are required for demographic reasons, it is not. Only the Hearing and Language position and the two Primary positions have been filled. The Infant position, the three Therapeutic Pedagogy positions, and the English position have remained unfilled. It should be remembered that both Formentera and Ibiza have serious housing problems, a situation that discourages applicants from other islands from applying: if they get a position, they must remain there for two consecutive years before being able to request a transfer. To make the transfer less burdensome, the Regional Ministry has introduced the hard-to-fill and very hard-to-fill supplements. The Balearic Islands, leaders in teacher shortages

The secondary school teaching situation is also negative. The Balearic Islands are the autonomous community with the most unfilled positions: 53.24%, 30 points higher than the national average of 23.48%, according to data from the CCOO (City of Workers' Commissions). At the other end of the table are Extremadura (5.02%) and Catalonia (5.25%). The union also provides the pass rate for this year's competitive examinations in the Canary Islands. Only 42% of applicants for all teaching bodies (vocational training, language schools, teachers, secondary education, visual arts and design, and music and performing arts) made the cut. In the case of teaching staff, 41.92% of candidates passed, while in secondary education, 40.45% did.

According to SIAU, "the number of vacant positions and failures should set off alarm bells," says General Secretary Joan Crespí. "Far from being a surprise, it is merely the consequence of years of disdain and neglect by the Administration toward education professionals," he continues. "The problem is not, as some would have us believe, that there aren't enough qualified candidates. The real problem is that Education has made teaching an increasingly unattractive profession. Work overload, lack of respect for academic freedom, extreme bureaucratization, poor economic conditions, and functional intrusion are just some of the functional intrusion," explains Crespí, also emphasizing that "the discontent is not exclusive to the temporary employment group." "The serious thing is that even career civil servants are now abandoning or not even considering applying for a permanent, lifelong position within public education," the union leader laments.

Interim teachers enter the game

With so many vacant positions remaining, the role of temporary staff is essential for the Ministry of Education to meet the staffing needs of educational centers. In the first summer procedures, 98.5% of the vacant teaching positions for the 2025-2026 academic year were awarded. In the urgent procedure, 131 positions were allocated out of the 186.5 positions that had been pending in the first process. By island, 59.5 positions were awarded in Mallorca; 17 in Menorca; 44.5 in Ibiza; and 10 in Formentera. In total, 2,408 positions were filled out of 2,464 vacancies. If all the July award processes are considered, the total number rises to 4,064 positions awarded out of a total of 4,127.5.

As every year, the problem will arise when the school year begins, when the temporary teacher pools have unfilled specialties. If the holder of a position falls ill, no one will be able to cover for him or her, a situation that occurred last year at CEIP Es Moli d'en Xema, among other cases: third- and fourth-graders went without an English teacher for two months. The subjects most affected by the teacher shortage are especially concentrated in Secondary School and include, among others, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, Biology, but also Greek, Latin, Catalan, and Spanish.

To alleviate the teacher shortage, Educació has implemented various measures, some controversial and agreed upon with Vox, such as the temporary exemption from the Catalan requirement for teachers occupying positions that are very difficult to fill. The decision provoked a response from the educational community in defense of schools in their own language. With this measure, the Government has provided legal cover for a situation that existed in practice and contravened current regulations: this year, specialists have arrived at schools and institutes, not only without the requirement, but also with little knowledge of the Catalan language.

The Ministry alsohas expanded the range of university degrees that qualify for access to the temporary employment poolAll degrees have been grouped into areas of knowledge (Social Sciences, Humanities, etc.). This opens the door for a social worker to teach Business Organization and Management, for example. The experts consulted believe that this laissez-faire approach to filling all positions puts the quality of education at risk, especially in the Pitiusas, where some schools have half of their teaching staff on an interim basis. "To teach, you have to master the basic knowledge of the subject you're going to teach. But it's also essential to master didactics, knowing what to explain, how to explain it, and making it interesting for the students," says Antoni Salvà, coordinator of the Balearic Islands Teachers' Association. "If the first step is already failing, what will the second step do?" he asks. "We're heading towards a clear deterioration in the quality of education," he concludes.

In the cases mentioned, and in those affecting other subjects, these are courses that have nothing to do a priori with what students should be taught. That's why Educació requires applicants to prove they have completed 30 university credits, including basic and compulsory subjects related to the subject they will be teaching. Even so, the unions have denounced the possibility of someone with no prior knowledge teaching a subject, something that, they emphasize, affects the quality of education.