The high turnover of teachers in the Pitiusas Islands: “Every year we train teachers to become teachers”

PalmSchool staffing levels are often comprised of nomadic teachers who long to return to their home islands—usually Mallorca. Schools and institutes have more than half their teams made up of temporary staff: young people arriving for their first job, sometimes with no prior experience in education. This is the reality in many schools in Ibiza and Formentera, where instability is the norm and where work is done on a day-to-day basis, with no possibility of planning beyond a single academic year because it's uncertain which teachers will be available or whether they will be committed to the decisions being made. One factor to consider is the impact on students, who have become accustomed to not building strong relationships with their teachers because they know that, perhaps next year—or even in a few months—they will no longer be there. Some teachers resign because they cannot live decently due to the housing problems plaguing the Pitiusas Islands, or they return to their home islands when they can.

"Of the 94 positions we have, only about 30 are permanent," explains Jaume Ferrer, director of IES Marc Ferrer, the only secondary school on Formentera. "We do the day-to-day work, but it's very difficult for us to start any stable projects or consolidate processes. We've just begun the reading program because we've identified gaps in comprehension. But we're aware that we're forming teams, and more than half of the members will be leaving," he laments. All of this affects the school's organization, which has to change committee coordinators, department heads, and tutors every year.

The role of the tutor is key, because they know the students and their families best. "We often plan for 40 tutors, and when we meet, 22 have already left. Some groups are lucky and have the same specialist teacher for three years in a row," says Ferrer. In Formentera, the problem is also linked to demographics: only 20 of the 94 (20%) teachers at the high school are based there. The island is also one of the clearest examples of the consequences of the 2022 temporary teacher stabilization process and the regional competitive examinations held the following year. Many teachers who had secured permanent positions were forced to relocate to Ibiza or Formentera, and in response to protests, the Department of Education arranged temporary transfers so they wouldn't have to move. The consequence is paradoxical: "We have 30% of the staff who hold permanent positions at our school whom we don't even know yet, because they've been on secondment for two years. One came and became a union representative, and two others came the first year and have now applied for secondment," explains Santiago Ramírez, principal of CEIP Mestre Llu.

Inexperienced Teachers

The professionals who arrive in the Pitiusas Islands "by chance" usually have little experience, but typically a lot of interest and a positive attitude. However, if they make up the majority of the staff, the workload multiplies. "Every year we end up training the teachers. Luckily, this year we've had teachers who are returning, but otherwise, every year we have to explain our project to people who will eventually leave," laments Ramírez. Two years ago, 14 of the school's 29 teachers were newcomers who needed mentoring because it was their first job. Many professionals value their experience in Formentera positively: life is peaceful, the atmosphere in the schools is good, but housing spoils everything. "Those who can return do so because they negotiate with landlords to be able to move into their apartments in September until the start of the following season," explains the director. An extreme case that highlights the complexity of the situation is that of a teacher who had been living on the island for 13 years and decided to leave after moving 14 times during that time.

In Ibiza, the situation is also serious. ARA Baleares has already reported that some teachers are forced to sleep in their cars and shower in a gym due to the difficulty of finding a place to live. Some temporary teachers have year-round vacancies, while others are called in for three-week replacements. They can't find housing, and a hotel eats up a large part of their salary. Many teachers simply don't take the position. Francisco Tienda, director of the IES Quartó de Portmany and president of the Association of Directors of Secondary and Special Education in the Pitiusas Islands, sums it up like this: "Every year it gets more complicated. Last year I started with between 30 and 40% of the staff unfilled. It's a lottery."

This context partly explains why the Pitiusas Islands have substantially worse academic results than the rest of the islands. "We are analyzing what happened in the IAQSE tests, but it is clear to us that staff instability, class sizes, and the increase in students with special needs are determining factors," Tienda points out. Added to this is an obvious fact: each teacher has their own way of explaining, evaluating, transmitting, and prioritizing content. If a class has four History teachers and four Catalan teachers over four years, they must adapt to eight different teaching methods. Teachers also have little opportunity to get to know the students beyond the explicit transfer of authority that the school may carry out. And there is an aggravating factor: "When a teacher starts—and even more so if they are new to teaching—they already have enough work to adapt to and learn the dynamics of a school… imagine what happens if, in addition, it's not their subject," Tienda asserts.

The lack of staff creates bizarre situations that affect the functioning of schools. "The Catalan Department at IES Isidor Macabich has had three different heads of department in three years. Someone new would arrive and they'd take over. And what's more, a colleague of mine who taught Catalan, but is a Geography and History teacher, is now the head of the Catalan Department at his school," explains Jaume Ribas, a Mallorcan teacher with a competitive examination, currently at IES Sant Agustí. The shortage of island teachers has also opened the door to professionals who don't speak Catalan. "Sometimes they have a good attitude, but other times it's difficult to get them to cooperate," he says. Instability is practically endemic: "Just because you're in Ibiza for four years doesn't mean you'll have a position at the same school. You could be at four different schools," he says. In preschool and primary education, this impacts methodological continuity. In secondary education, too, but it also complicates decision-making regarding publishers and pedagogical criteria, which successors may not maintain.

Professionals for express coverage

How do you combat this situation? You do what you can. After the pandemic, a group of "express" teachers was created in Ibiza and Formentera: about 15 temporary professionals with year-round vacancies but no assigned schools. They have to go wherever needed to cover short absences that aren't officially advertised. This was the initial objective, but the staff shortage has distorted it: now they're also sent when a position becomes available and no one takes it. "The aim is to keep you from changing schools more than twice a week. The longest I've ever been in one school is three weeks," explains María José Ruiz, a temporary teacher in the group who will return to Mallorca when she can. She has her husband and children there, and she takes flights every weekend. Like her, many see their time in the Pitiusas Islands as a post-university Erasmus exchange: go there, accumulate points to move up the waiting list, and return home. Staying there isn't an option. "In two years, I haven't saved a penny," she laments.

In this context, in the most recent 2025 competitive examinations for primary school teachers, only 40% of the positions were filled in Ibiza (40 out of 98) and 37.5% in Formentera (3 out of 8), while in Mallorca and Menorca the coverage was 100% and 88%, respectively. In Special Education, a key specialty, 5 of the 29 available positions were filled; in Speech and Language Therapy, 11%; and in English Language, 22%. Physical Education and Primary Education achieved a 66% coverage rate, and Early Childhood Education, 12 out of 15 positions were filled. Pere Lomas, STEI delegate in the Pitiusas Islands, points out that "in the last urgent process for temporary teachers over the weekend, 47% of the positions in the Pitiusas Islands remained unassigned," and warns that teacher stability is essential to be able to promote educational projects in the medium term. The sources consulted agree on the solutions to try to change this dynamic: increasing incentives to take up positions in the Pitiusas Islands, offering longer contracts and more ambitious salary supplements than the current ones for positions considered difficult and very difficult to fill, as well as stabilizing temporary teachers and expanding the local university offerings to retain talent. Without these measures, many young people will continue to go and study elsewhere and remain in the Pitiusas, which hinders continuity of teaching and attention to students, while those from elsewhere will work there under duress and with the desire to leave. Without stable teachers and decent working conditions, schools are like ships adrift, changing crews every year. Students are navigating unstable waters, without consistent role models or established projects. All of this hinders the educational dynamics of Ibiza and Formentera.