Andalusia secondary school teacher employment issues

The Regional Ministry of Education of the Junta de Andalucía initiated a process to fill 590 secondary school teaching vacancies across various specialties, including Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science. This call for extraordinary access was intended to facilitate mobility for personnel already within existing teaching employment pools.

However, shortly after the announcement, the Junta de Andalucía invalidated job assignments for thousands of substitute teachers due to reported technical issues with the Sipri (Sistema de Provisión de Interinidades) system. This reversal occurred just 48 hours before the new academic year was set to begin. Labor unions, such as ANPE and UGT, raised concerns regarding the sudden uncertainty, noting that many educators had already made logistical arrangements for housing and relocation based on the initial assignments.

As the 2026-2027 school year commenced, the administration reported that the Sipri error was corrected, claiming that 97% of teacher destinations remained unchanged and over 1,100 vacancies were covered. Despite these claims, the CSIF union reported that 76% of centers began the month with incomplete staffing.

This staffing instability coincides with a broader demographic shift in the region. President Juanma Moreno reported a record decline in student enrollment, noting approximately 30,000 fewer students than the previous year and a total reduction of 150,000 students since 2019. To mitigate the impact of shrinking populations, the administration is testing a reduction in classroom ratios for early childhood education, lowering them from 25 to 22 students. While the teaching workforce has grown to 109,000 educators, some local schools, such as CEIP Rodríguez Marín in Osuna, have faced protests from families demanding more classrooms to prevent high student-to-teacher ratios.