School, PNRR 3 competition: more teaching positions and fewer participants, but it's a scramble in secondary schools. The numbers.

Over 225 thousand aspiring teachers have applied for the new teaching competition linked to the PNRR, the third foreseen within the extraordinary recruitment plan financed with European funds: the PNRR 3.

According to the data released by Horizon School, the requests are divided into 180 thousand for secondary school and 45 thousand for nursery and primary school, out of a total of 58.135 places advertised by the Ministry of Education and Merit.

A quick calculation shows that only one in four candidates will be able to obtain the long-awaited permanent position, but it is still a better number than the PNRR1 when there were over 400.000 members.

Preschool and primary school: more places, more opportunities

There are 27.376 places available for nursery and primary school. With 45 applications submitted, the probability of success is around 60%: A high percentage that makes this sector the one with the best chances of hiring. The situation is different in secondary schools, where there are 30.759 positions for 180 applicants: here the success rate drops to 17%, or less than one teacher in six.

A significant competition, but less crowded than previous ones. The PNRR 3 competition ideally closes the cycle begun with the two previous selection rounds (PNRR 1 and 2), but with a significant finding: overall applications are lower than in the past. Industry experts interpret this decline as a sign of a saturated market and increasing difficulty for long-term temporary workers in keeping pace with new training requirements and the newly introduced digital procedures.

The secondary school problem: too many candidates

Competition is fiercest in secondary schools. The most sought-after teaching subjects—humanities, mathematics, and support—continue to attract thousands of applicants, often already on shortlists or on annual substitute positions. For many, this represents a last chance for stability after years of precarious employment. However, the disproportion between applications and positions highlights a structural flaw in the system: the formation of an increasingly large and heterogeneous pool of aspiring teachers, who struggle to find stable positions.