Teacher workforce down for the first time in five years

For the first time in five years, the number of teaching staff is shrinking. The balance between the posts allocated in the 2020/21 school year and then confirmed until 2024/25 and those to be filled in 2025/26 is negative by about 3,800, if we take into account the 5,660 fewer common posts and the 1,886 more on support as established by the last budget law. And if we cannot speak of a surprise, given that the demographic winter causes us to lose over 100,000 pupils every September, we can certainly call it a novelty for a country that has often considered teachers a variable (at least in part) independent of everything else. Thus leading us to have a pupil/teacher ratio permanently above the average of OECD countries.

As mentioned, the drop in staffing levels was expected. This was formalised by an interministerial decree Mef-Mim that has just been issued. The measure takes into account the measures included in the 2025 manvora, which, on the one hand (Article 1, paragraph 567 of Law 207 of 2024), provided for an increase of 1,866 support posts starting from the 2025/2026 school year and 134 from the 2026/2027 school year; on the other hand (in paragraph 828), it provided for a reduction of 5,660 posts in the staffing of autonomy.

Considering also the 48 fewer slots due to the 'cost-sharing' operation conducted together with the Farnesina, the posts of the staff of autonomy for 2025/26, as confirmed by the tables attached to the measure, amount to a total of 614,572, plus 50,202 posts for strengthening the educational offer, against 620,239 in 2024/25.
In contrast to the trend in support, which increased from 126,170 to 128,036 posts (of which 6,446 in support) over the same period of time.
So far, the de jure staffing level. The de facto one is expected to increase slightly, since it will rise from 14,142 to 14,161 posts, due to the 19 decrease in the need for substitute teachers for the European schools.

Defining the headcount means officially switching on the recruitment machine ahead of September. As announced in mid-July by Minister Giuseppe Valditara, the target for recruitment is approximately 54,000 teachers. To the 48,504 teachers for common and support posts (equal to 13,860) must be added the 6,022 religious education teachers, following the competition announced in 2024.