The Country Matcher: which teaching country fits you best

A shortlist, not a verdict. The matcher ranks the routes we track on The Hire Wire using the pay figures and entry rules held on the desks. Czechia, Portugal, Hungary and the ELA terms for France, Germany and Austria were read at source on 28 October 2026, Türkiye and Mexico on 16 October 2026 and Spain on 1 October 2026. UAE, Vietnam, Colombia and Oman carry no published pay figure and were last checked on 5 August 2026. Euro figures are the ones published on The Salary Index, converted at the European Central Bank reference rates of 28 October 2026. It is general information rather than immigration or careers advice, and hiring windows move through the year. Confirm anything that matters on the desk pages and the official sources they link before you commit.

Updated 17 September 2026: Hungary and Portugal were being ranked on programme pay figures while only their immigration rules were being checked. Issue 004 established on 16 September 2026 that CETP requires US, Canadian or UK citizenship, and the Fulbright ETA award in Portugal has always been open to US citizens only. Both cards now carry the bar and neither ranks on a figure an Irish applicant cannot earn.

Updated 1 October 2026: Spain had the same fault, and it was ranking second-highest in the whole matcher on “structure and support” for a programme an Irish applicant cannot join. Issue 005 established that the Irish route into Spain’s state school assistantship is the Department of Education and Youth’s ELA scheme, which has no new places for 2026/27, and that NALCAP is the North American strand and never open to an Irish passport. The Spain card no longer ranks on that structure, its note names the real route and the real bar, and the pay figure has moved from “800 to 1,000 euro” to 800 euro because the Ministry publishes one figure and the 2026/27 announcement caps the award at 5,600 euro a year. Spain stays in the ranking on its open private sector, which an EU passport can genuinely use. Czechia and Hungary have also been brought onto the European Central Bank rates of 30 September 2026 so the matcher and the Salary Index agree again: Czechia 1,228 to 1,432 euro, Hungary 2,321 euro.

Updated 22 October 2026: four euro figures on this matcher were out of step with The Salary Index, which this page tells you it runs on. The Salary Index corrected them on 16 October 2026 and the correction did not reach here for six days. Türkiye moves from about 516 euro to about 507 euro and now carries the local figure, TRY 28,075.50 net a month; Mexico moves from about 480 euro to about 462 euro and now carries MXN 9,582.47 a month. Both of those euro figures had been carried since 5 August and both were too high, as the Salary Index says on its face. Czechia moves from 1,228–1,432 euro to 1,232–1,437 euro and Hungary from 2,321 euro to 2,338 euro, which is the same local-currency figure recomputed at the European Central Bank reference rates of 15 October 2026 rather than those of 30 September. No local-currency figure changed and no source was re-read here today: this is a propagation fix, and the check dates below are the Salary Index’s, not new ones.

Updated 28 October 2026: this matcher has moved with The Salary Index in the same pass. Hungary moves from about 2,338 euro to more than 2,453 euro, because the Hungarian Government’s notice of the January 2026 rise puts the national teacher average above HUF 900,000, read at source today. Czechia moves from 1,232–1,437 euro to 1,231–1,436 euro and Türkiye from about 507 euro to about 506 euro, the same local figures at the European Central Bank reference rates of 28 October 2026. Mexico stays at about 462 euro. A new card covers the Irish ELA route into France, Germany and Austria, with the 2026/27 pay read on gov.ie today: France 1,036.21 euro gross a month, Germany 1,000 euro net and Austria approximately 2,000 euro gross. It appears for an Irish passport holder who is at university or has a degree and is 35 or under, and it ranks as a condition rather than an open door because no 2027/28 round has been published.