Bernardo Huerga, a tenured professor, is a member of the business committee of the Ministry of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands and a representative of the ANPE union (the largest in the country for teaching) for the province of Las Palmas.
In an interview with Ekonomus, he explains the reasons why teachers avoid non-capital islands like Lanzarote, even though they offer the highest salaries in the country.
"In Lanzarote, there are currently about 2,400 teachers, of which approximately 1,250 are temporary," Huerga explains.
The highest salary in the country in their profession
The gross salary that teachers receive in the non-capital islands of the Canary Islands is the highest in the country among teachers, thanks precisely to the supplement for double insularity.
For example, a teacher who has just joined in Lanzarote, without seniority, will receive 2,945.87 euros gross per month, before deductions such as contributions to Social Security or 21% income tax.
That amount is composed of a base salary (1,147.35 euros); destination supplement (574.18 euros); specific supplement of the autonomous community (782.84 euros); residence supplement on a non-capital island (467.39 euros).
"In the end, the net monthly salary of a teacher in Lanzarote without seniority is around 2,000 euros per month. In Gran Canaria or Tenerife, it would be around 1,800," the union representative specifies.
The numbers for a secondary school teacher who starts in Lanzarote are slightly higher, since "the net is around 2,150 euros, about 1,900 in the capital islands," according to Huerga.
Connections and housing
Therefore, "teachers originally from Gran Canaria, if they cannot stay on their island, generally do not choose Tenerife" if they do not have a house there, and the same occurs in the opposite direction.
"They prefer to go to non-capital islands. Those who prefer the boat choose the south of Fuerteventura and avoid Corralejo, those who prefer the plane choose Lanzarote, where they avoid Playa Blanca, which, apart from La Graciosa, is the one that takes the longest to fill its places."
There are two key moments for teachers to join their positions. First, the allocation of destinations in the summer and, secondly, the daily appointments that occur from September onwards.
Huerga explains that resignations occur for many reasons. Often because some teachers forget to reduce the geographical scope to the islands of their interest and end up resigning when they are assigned an island they do not want to go to.
"The islands with the most resignations are La Gomera, El Hierro, and even La Palma, due to their worse connections with the peninsula," Huerga explains.
There are no official data, but the ANPE union representative believes that "approximately 20% of teachers in the Canary Islands are originally from the peninsula. In the 90s, it was around 60%, before the Canarian universities opened."
"Lanzarote has more resignations than Fuerteventura"
"Lanzarote has good connections with the peninsula, but it certainly has more resignations than Fuerteventura. The problem with Lanzarote is the difficulty of finding housing. When teachers arrive in Lanzarote, they are surprised by exorbitant prices," explains the ANPE union representative.
"First, they go to a hostel or a hotel while they look for an apartment, but the prices mean that many find themselves sharing housing with rooms that do not go below 400 euros. Lanzarote is currently the most expensive island in the Canary Islands for a teacher," he adds.
"In La Gomera, El Hierro, and La Palma, there is not so much problem finding housing. Lanzarote, without a doubt, of all the islands, is the one that has the most problems when it comes to finding a home, especially at an affordable price."
But in Lanzarote, the high price of the few available rentals is more relevant than in the other islands when it comes to resigning, and that implies "a penalty of one year without appointment on the list."
Asked about the lack of auxiliary teachers in Lanzarote, Huelga explains that "indeed, many teachers are needed who have hearing and language skills, who have habilitated therapeutic pedagogy."
"The number of students with specific needs has doubled since the pandemic." In Lanzarote, they already represent 30% of the student body, in the average of the Canary Islands.