For the first time, in Spain, religion teachers in state schools will have permanent contracts. However, at the same time, the presence of religion teaching in schools is reduced. According to Alfredo Sepúlveda, of the collective of religion teachers of the Independent Workers’ Trade Unions, "this government’s move is a double-edged sword": “If they reduce the number of hours in secondary schools, we shall have the following alternative: either one third of teachers will be left with no jobs, or we’ll have to share the few hours left". This may mean that even with permanent contracts, teachers will lose working hours, and will be employed part-time, earning about 800 euros a month. One of the novelties of this kind of contract is the higher control by the government on the employment and the dismissal of religion teachers, which until now was up to single dioceses. In Spain, religion teachers are 18,500, who were chosen by the dioceses but paid by the Ministry of Education until now.
