The hunt for 46,000 teachers is on: here’s a map of the vacancies

The race for teaching posts for the coming academic year has begun. There are 46,642 vacant posts available, which the Ministry of Education – through the three stages and six procedures put in place (see *Il Sole 24 Ore* of Monday 6 July) – will attempt to fill with permanent teaching staff.

Whilst awaiting the submission of the recruitment regulations to the Council of Ministers (which may take place on 4 August, ed.), the administrative process has been set in motion at Viale Trastevere. Over a quarter of the vacant posts – 26 per cent – are in Lombardy. This is confirmed by the table setting out the recruitment quota attached to the ministerial decree just published on the Ministry of Education’s website. The picture it paints is similar to that of many other pre-school-year periods, with the majority of teaching vacancies located in the north and the bulk of prospective teachers based in the south. If we add the 5,094 vacancies in Veneto, the 4,397 in Piedmont and the 3,357 in Emilia-Romagna to Lombardy’s initial 12,129 vacancies, the 1,369 in Liguria and the 1,097 in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, we arrive at a total of over 27,000 vacancies, representing 58.8 per cent of the total number of posts to be filled by permanent teachers. In turn, when taken together, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Sicily, Sardinia and Puglia barely reach the ten-thousand mark.

The risk is that, once again, many posts will remain unfilled and that, in the end, the ministry will have to draw on the pool of supply teachers. In an effort to mitigate this risk, the Ministry of Education and Merit – thanks in part to the reform of recruitment competitions set out in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), which has simplified them and made them annual – has gradually expanded the procedures available. This year, following the introduction of the lists of eligible candidates, there are now six such procedures, divided into three stages. The first of these will conclude today, with the completion of the ordinary phase and the allocation of posts for permanent appointments (including fixed-term contracts leading to permanent posts for successful candidates in the competition who are not yet qualified) and the related progression through the list. From 31 July to 13 August (second phase), it will be the turn of the allocation of teaching posts for support roles to candidates in the first GPS band in the province where they are registered on the ranking list. The third stage must be completed by 21 August with the allocation of both the province and the school to teachers in the first GPS support category who, between 14 and 18 August, will have submitted an application for the inter-provincial phase (the so-called ‘fast-track mini call’).

Whilst it is true that, at least on paper, 50 per cent of posts are reserved for the merit-based rankings of competitive examinations and 50 per cent for the ‘GAE’ (the so-called ‘Gae’), it should be noted that, once a teacher has received their appointment online, they will have five days to accept or decline it. This must also be done online. Failure to respond will be deemed a refusal and will result in both the loss of the post and removal from the ranking list.