The number of teaching positions and the number of teacher hired registered an increase in 2012 compared to the previous year.

A total of 832 vacant teaching positions were open for the teacher application in the category "oferta de emprego" (fixed-term contract), of which 808 were filled.

This year, there was a significant increase in the number of teaching positions as well as in the number of teachers admitted in all teaching levels. 60% of the teachers were placed in one of the five school preferences listed and 35% were placed in their first school preference.

This teacher application registers an increase of 26% in the number of applicants in the category "oferta de emprego," compared to the previous year. There was also an increase in the admission rate compared to 2011.

The  teaching positions for the category "oferta de emprego" were open in accordance with the needs of the schools of the Autonomous Region of the Azores.

The Regional Secretariat for Education and Training carried out a rigorous analysis on the distribution of teaching service and the number of teachers requested by schools.

The increase in the number of teaching positions is the result of the need to ensure a sustained extension of mandatory schooling to 12 years and until the age of eighteen. These measures follow the Government's need to continue to pursue an educational policy that promotes equality of opportunities, enhances education and improves the teaching quality.

For the Regional Government, education is a privileged sector in terms of investment since it is a dynamic sector capable of changing paradigms and generational behaviours; therefore, education provides a fundamental contribution to the development, progress and modernisation any region nowadays.

In this context, the Government of the Azores defends that education and science should be priority investments in a Region that needs more qualified citizens as well as better conditions that foster competitiveness and development.