2022
Integration of Ukrainian children and young people into the Portuguese education system
Children and young people from Ukraine will be integrated into the education system as soon as possible. To do so, Portugal’s administrative, pedagogical and cultural bodies are being consulted regarding their contribution to an agile and simplified access process. In Portugal, all foreign citizens between six and 18 years old, legally resident or not, have access to education with the same. To speed up the integration of children and young people who are beneficiaries or applicants for international protection, extraordinary reception measures in school clusters/non-clustered schools have been defined: • Simplification of procedures regarding foreign qualification equivalences and/or positioning and entry in a given school year and educational provision. • Gradual integration into the Portuguese curriculum and Portuguese language support. • Creation of multidisciplinary teams (specialised teachers/professionals, psychologists, social workers, interpreters, monitors, etc.), according to existing resources, to propose and develop appropriate strategies for concrete situations. These measures are monitored by a working group made up of various Ministry of Education and other bodies, such as the High Commission for Migrations. For more information on education measures for child and young person refugees, see DGE website.
21|23 School+ Plan
To support the implementation and development of the measures recommended in the 21|23 Escola+ Plan (see additional information below - 2021), short courses have been scheduled in schools for pre-primary teachers and first and second cycle teachers, complemented by descriptive roadmaps. The Plan’s page publishes national and international information regarding studies and professional training initiatives on recovery of learning. One example is The Future of Schools Beyond Covid-19 report (published in November 2021).
Digital transition of schools
Action plan for the digital development of schools (PADDE)
As part of the Action Plan for Digital Transition, the Action Plan for the Digital Development of Schools was established, based on DigCompEdu and DigCompOrg, documents developed by the European Commission. PADDE’s areas of intervention focus on different school organisation in digital technologies: professional involvement, teaching and learning, assessment of learning, continuous professional development and leadership.
PADDE aims to guide and facilitate the adaptation and implementation of digital technologies in the teaching and learning processes, as well as supporting schools to reflect and define strategies that helps them to exploit digital potential via holistic integration:
- Organisational – leadership, teamwork, professional development of school human resources.
- Pedagogical - curriculum development and assessment, pedagogical practices, use of digital educational resources.
- Technological and digital - infrastructure, equipment and Internet access; digital platforms.
To prepare PADDE, the heads of school clusters/non-clustered schools were invited to set up their Digital Development Teams (DDT). These included the head/head of the unit, a teacher with experience and knowledge of technological infrastructures and a teacher in middle management able to work in a team, mobilise peers, with a solid background in using digital means in the teaching and learning process and participation in national and international projects. In their schools, these teachers participate in designing, implementing, monitoring, assessing and reformulating the PADDE.
Digital Ambassadors to implement the digital transition plan
Digital ambassadors with technical-pedagogical advisory roles and responsibilities for organising training were allocated to training centres. They will also be involved in the design, implementation, follow-up, monitoring and evaluation of the PADDE. This is a response to the needs identified by the schools in their areas.
Digital textbooks
The digital textbooks pilot-project (PPMD) implemented in the 2020/21 school year is in its second phase, currently involving a total of 24 school clusters. This initiative aims to address different pedagogical models and practices for student learning, to extend all Portuguese schools, identifying potential and constraints of the transition from paper to digital textbooks, such as defining pedagogical models in digital environments, exploring digital educational resources with guided pathways. This is being supported and developed with community funds, like The Human Capital Operational Program (POCH).
National monitoring, supervision and research in pedagogical assessment project (MAIA)
After the second stage of the project was completed, the second project report was published in November 2021: Towards a Pedagogical Evaluation: Dynamics and Training Processes in the MAIA Project (2020-2021), which aimed to continue the work in the areas of teacher training, pedagogical evaluation and improvement of teachers' pedagogical practices. A total of 81 School Association Training Centres (CFAE) participated in the project, having organised 147 50-hour Training Workshops. These workshops had 2 666 trainees and involved around 360 school clusters/non-clustered schools throughout the country. The CFAE conducted 214 short courses at national level, reaching around 10 464 teachers.
Curricular flexibility and autonomy
With regard to the curricular flexibility and autonomy (Decree-Law No 55/2018, 6 July), Ordinance No 306/2021, 17 December, (which amends Ordinance No 181/2019, 11 June).This new ordinance consolidates curriculum flexibility and autonomy via: (i) greater flexibility in the design of specific training paths in the education and training provision in upper secondary education; (ii) simplifying proposals for innovation plans in schools; (iii) clarifying curricular and pedagogical organisation options; (iv) defining rules for assessing and certifying students’ learning covered by innovation plans, adapting them to the procedures established by Ordinance No 194/2021, 17 September. Adopting a specific training pathway in an innovation plan is applicable to all subjects of the specific and scientific component, depending on the upper secondary education and training provision. The structure of the course with its own training pathway must include:
a) For science-humanities courses, a three-yearly subject, two two-yearly subjects and two annual subjects of the specific component b) In the specialised artistic courses, two to four scientific component subjects c) In vocational courses, two to three scientific component subjects, according to the respective qualification, ensuring the knowledge, skills and attitudes defined in the Professional Profile/Competences Reference and respective training reference.
2021
21|23 Escola+ Plan
Due to the current pandemic crisis face-to-face learning activities were halted twice, with students experiencing the impact of the sudden change from face-to-face teaching to distance learning. This paradigm change affected all students, especially those that were struggling as remedial activities proved insufficient. In view of the urgent need to recover and consolidate learning, as well as mitigating inequalities, the 21|23 Escola+ Plan sprang from the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No 90/2021. This integrated learning recovery plan is based on educational policies with proven effectiveness and models of excellence perfected over the past years, which aim to develop measures to promote success, inclusion, citizenship and confidence in schools and their agents, for the benefit of meaningful learning.
Although the plan lasts for two academic years (2021/2022 and 2022/2023), it aims to seed of autonomy, innovation and inclusion of future education policies, making schools truly sustainable.
Following a consultation process with a wide range of educational agents and the creation of a working group, the following strategic objectives for 21|23 Escola+ Plan were established:
1. Recovery of the most affected skills.
2. Diversification of teaching strategies.
3. Investment in social and emotional well-being.
4. Confidence in the educational system.
5. Involvement of the whole educational community.
6. Capacity building via increased resources and means.
7. Monitoring by assessing measure and resource impact and efficiency.
In addition to this, structural areas were defined and divided into the following categories:
- Teaching and learning (+reading and writing, +curriculum autonomy, +educational resources, +family, +assessment and diagnosis, +inclusion and welfare and +territory)
- Supporting educational communities (+qualified teams, +training, +vocational education and +digital); and discover and assess (+data and +information).
The Plan’s governance model is made up two levels, involving the different Ministry of Education services and bodies:
- One level supporting and monitoring the work of schools.
- Another level monitoring and assessing the Plan's effectiveness and efficiency, which is coordinated by the National Programme for Promoting School Success.
Restructuring of the Programme for Priority Intervention Educational Areas (TEIP)
According to the 21|23 Escola+ Plan, established by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No 90/2021, 7 July (area - teaching and learning, field - +territory), the Directorate-General for Education has been preparing the transition to the next phase of the TEIP programme, which included boosting schools' autonomy. Set in particularly challenging situations, schools should have greater opportunity to implement their own projects, based strongly on evidence and knowledge of the environment in which they operate, assuming the responsibility inherent in providing quality public education.
Throughout the first semester of 2021, due to changes in various educational communities (i.e., greater migratory flows, resulting in mother tongues in schools not yet covered by the programme), the criteria for the inclusion of new schools in the Programme were revised. To this end, a new criterion was added to those approved in 2012 for the TEIP network (i.e., socio-economic profiles of students and standards of school achievement).
According to the provisions of the abovementioned Resolution’s +Territory field, the legal framework regulating new applications of schools to the programme is being revised, taking place during the 2021/2022 school year. That said, in July 2021, 10 new schools were integrated in the programme, consolidating the necessary resources for the implementation of learning recovery in those territories. The high percentage of migrant students and the diversity of mother tongues in these school communities (over 20 % of the school population) meant immediately intervening with an improvement plan.
Action Plan for Digital Development (PADD)
Part of the "Education" field of the Action Plan for Digital Development (PADD), there is a major focus on training teachers, who will play a decisive role in supporting the widespread integration of technologies and digital tools in their professional and pedagogical practices.
PADD acts as a guide and facilitator to adapt and implement digital technologies in teaching and learning processes, based on the principles defined in the Exit profile for students leaving compulsory education. It also aims to help schools reflect and define strategies that fully exploits digital potential, and its holistic integration within the organisation.
Digital school: equipment for students and teachers
The Ministry of Education will continue distributing computers, connectivity and software licenses to primary and secondary school students who are covered by school social support due to the poor socioeconomic conditions of their household (about 40 % of all students in the public network), as well as to all teachers. This is being done in 2021 via a phased implementation of the Digital School Programme, via its central services (Directorate-General for Schools, Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics and the General Secretariat of Education and Science). During the 2020/21 school year, approximately 450,000 laptops were distributed to students and teachers, and this measure is planned to become universal during the 2021/22 school year.
Promotion of inclusive learning environments
The Directorate General for Education, in conjunction with the DGEstE and ANQEP, kickstarted an inclusive education project - inclusive learning environments. This is based on the quality and efficiency of the education and training system to promote success at school, particularly the tools for achieving a fully organised school, in all its dimensions, according to an inclusive approach.
This project is based on 3 pillars: (i) skilling education and training agents within school communities; (ii) close monitoring of schools; and (iii) development of action research.
This project involves an expert in inclusive education and a coordination team, technical team and regional teams for close monitoring of schools.
Protection, safety and health measures for COVID-19
Considering the current pandemic and the need to ensure health and safety in schools, while creating a climate of trust in school communities, the Directorate-General for Schools, in close coordination with the Directorate-General of Health, developed a set of measures to prevent and mitigate the SARS-COV-2 and, consequently, COVID-19 from spreading, namely:
- Provision of personal protection equipment (PPE) for the 2020/21 school year (3rd term) and the 2021/22 school year (1st term) via schools’ increased budget to purchase: i) 1 kit of 3 social/community masks per student, teacher, technical staff, technical assistants and operational assistants, per term, washable 20 to 25 times and certified; ii) washable aprons and gloves for staff to use in specific tasks (e.g. sanitation and cleaning of school areas iii) alcohol-based antiseptic solution.
- Implementation of testing process via laboratory screening programme for SARS-CoV-2 infection, using rapid antigen tests (TRAg) for upper-secondary school students, teaching and non-teaching staff, staff working in curriculum enrichment activities, family support in pre-school and primary school.
Project PAR.2 – Developing a culture of assessment for learning
With the completion of the School Monitoring Project for the Analysis and Use of External Assessment Reports (PAR), in April 2021, the PAR.2 Project – Developing a culture of assessment for learning began. It operated through the development of partnership projects between the Institute of Educational Assessment (IAVE) and 60 schools located in different geographical areas of the country. Using national and international external evaluation to develop and consolidate an evaluation culture for learning, intervention strategies will be defined and implemented by the end of the 2021/22 school year in school communities through a shared reflection on good assessment practices.
Individual and home education
Under Decree-Law No 70/2021, 3 August, the legal framework for individual education and home education was approved, defining the rules and procedures regarding enrolment and attendance, as well as follow-up and monitoring and certification of learning. The aim was to cater for families who, for personal or professional reasons, want to take greater responsibility in the education of their children or young people in their charge, opting to undertake the educational process outside of regular school. Students are guaranteed access to school social support, curricular enrichment activities and free schoolbooks.
The request for this type of education is submitted annually by the parent/guardian to a school. Authorisation or refusal is decided by the Directorate-General for Schools, subject to a proposal by the school’s head teacher. This request should respect the principles, vision, values and areas of competence of the exit profile of students leaving compulsory education, referring to current curriculum documents for each subject (i.e., the essential learning for each cycle of basic education), as well as the essential learning of the science-humanities courses.
A team was also set up to supervise and monitor the implementation of this measure.
2020/2021 school year: exceptional and temporary measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The following mitigation measures were taken to support the educational community:
- The “Apoio às Escolas” (School Support) website – a forum for communication and updated information, with a wide-ranging set of learning and school management support resources made available to all students, teachers, head teachers, parents, guardians and the rest of the school community, to enrich and improve the teaching and learning processes.
- #EstudoEmCasa – (Home Study) re-launch of digital terrestrial television classes (DTT) in mid-October, broadcasting 30-minute blocks for basic and upper secondary education (total of 150 blocks per week), covering most of the curriculum and organised in disciplinary and interdisciplinary form.
- #EstudoEmCasa on YouTube - creation of five channels, involving and encouraging teachers to produce lessons and make them accessible to the wider educational community. These materials are an open repository of quality resources for students who wish to consolidate learning.
- Distance learning online training in schools in MOOC format (Massive Open Online Course), running between February and July 2021. This aims to facilitate reflection and the sharing of experiences regarding distance learning plans in schools. Various documents will be drafted including the roadmap “Contributions for the Implementation of Distance Learning in Schools”.
- The pilot-project for the implementation of digital textbooks (PDT) and the production of digital educational resources (DER):
o The PDT aims to make school textbooks digital and is coordinated by the DGE, involving seven publishers, 8,247 digital textbooks, nine school clusters, 48 classes, 213 teachers and 1,050 students from the 3rd to 10th grade.
o The RED project, with Portuguese, Sciences and Mathematics curriculum content in 1st cycle of basic education.
Digital school
The 22nd Constitutional Government Programme states the "universalisation of digital school" as a goal of education policy. To this end, during the current school year, the Ministry of Education (ME) began the phased implementation of the Digital School Programme. This is based on four cornerstones (equipment, connectivity, teacher training and digital teaching resources), with particular emphasis on access to equipment and mobile connectivity.
In terms of infrastructure, public schools will progressively be provided with computers, with priority given to students who receive school social support. To boost this process, the Ministry of Education launched a set of key initiatives to consolidate different aspects of this programme, including:
- an assessment of teachers’ digital proficiency and subsequent training and capacity building.
- training the trainer sessions in digital skills for teachers’ capacity building.
- the creation of digital transition plans for each school cluster.
- the creation of a "Digital Ambassador" in training centres (CFAE), thus boosting implementation of local digital transition plans.
Protection, safety and health measures for COVID-19
Due to the current pandemic, health and safety conditions in schools needed to be safeguarded, creating a climate of confidence in educational communities. To this end, the DGEstE, in conjunction with the DGS, instituted a set of measures to prevent and mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and, consequently, COVID-19. The following measures have been applied during the current school year (2020/21):
- budget consolidation to guarantee the supply of community masks to all teachers, non-teaching staff, and students from the 2nd cycle (in the 3rd term, the measure is extended to students from the 1st cycle) of basic education, other personal protective equipment (PPE) and alcohol-based solution.
- production and dissemination of guidelines for the reorganisation of each education and teaching establishment.
- educational support measures for pupils who, according to the health authority’s guidelines, should be considered part of a risk group and who cannot attend face-to-face teaching and training activities in a group or class.
- supervision and monitoring of the epidemiological situation in a school environment, through the creation of a platform created for the purpose.
- a laboratory screening campaign for SARS-CoV-2 infection with rapid antigen tests for students, teaching and non-teaching staff of upper secondary schools. The campaign continues in reception schools when face-to-face teaching activities have been suspended and there is a change to the distance method.
- consolidating non-teaching staff with the allocation of 1,500 assistants according to Ordinance No 586-A/2020, 28 September.
- free meals for students who receive school social support (scales A, B and C) when classes and school activities are suspended and there is a change to virtual methods.
Reference school reception of essential workers’ children and other dependents and meal service for students receiving school social support
As in the first lockdown (in the 2019/20 school year), the Government decided that food support would continue for all students who receive school social support while educational and teaching activities were suspended at all levels, apart from higher education. This same support was guaranteed with the change to non-face-to-face educational and teaching activities.
In addition to this, each school cluster identified a school to receive essential workers’ children or other dependents, either during the period of suspension of activities, or during the non-face-to-face teaching regime. To this end, the DGEstE prepared and published the list of reference schools network for childcare purposes.
National monitoring, supervision and research in pedagogical assessment project (MAIA)
After the first stage of the project was completed, the "Towards a Pedagogical Evaluation: Dynamics and Training Processes in the MAIA Project (2019-2020)" report was published in December 2020, which aims to contribute to a broad debate in the field of pedagogical assessment. This saw the participation of 88 school association training centres (CFAE), in a total of 175 training workshops (88 directly linked to the project, and another 87 workshops at the CFAE’s behest). It also involved over 3,000 teacher trainees from all levels of schooling, who designed 400 intervention projects for about 400 school clusters/non-clustered schools.
Diagnostic study for assessing learning development
The impact of suspending face-to-face teaching and training activities during the 2019/20 school year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, saw the use of various distance learning solutions, depending on each educational establishment’s resources and structures. This may have caused disparities regarding students access to the curriculum and learning development, making it necessary to assess the state of learning and the context in which it took place.
To this end, and in compliance with paragraphs h) and i) of point 20 of the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No 53-D/2020, 20 July, a compulsory diagnostic study was undertaken with tasks for students and context questionnaires for students, teachers and schools. This provided important information for the education system and schools. The main objectives were to assess student performance according to exit profile for students leaving compulsory education skills areas, measure reading and information, mathematical and scientific literacy in a comprehensive and integrated way, as well as provide the educational system with information.
The study was given electronically to a sample of 3rd, 6th, and 9th-grade students that failed to take standardised tests the previous year (2nd, 5th, and 8th grades, respectively).
The study was carried out in January 2021, in 399 public school clusters and non-clustered schools on mainland Portugal and the autonomous regions (Madeira and Azores), as well as in 150 private and cooperative schools, involving a total of 23,342 students. The results of the diagnostic study have already been published during the second term, facilitating the measures necessary to address any learning deficits.
Following this study, a national report will be published, as well as reports for each participating school, focussing on the competences demonstrated by students in each grade. When schools receive their results, there will be follow-up sessions to aid analysis and operationalisation.
External assessment tests in the 2020/21 school year – End-of-cycle tests (grade 9) and national upper secondary education final exams
National external learning assessment in upper secondary education (grades 11 and 12) was significantly changed in the 2019/20 school year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused the suspension of face-to-face activities and the use of distance learning methods.
The same constraints have occurred during the current school year, again with a significant impact on the teaching and learning process. As schools can define different curricular development options, due to flexible curriculum management enshrined in law, it is imperative that the design of 9th grade and upper secondary education external assessment tests considers students’ different schooling pathways.
As these are high stakes exams, i.e., for certifying and serialising (national upper secondary exams allow entrance to higher education), a set of technical solutions should be used to provide candidates with the best possible conditions and equity when setting and grading exams.
For more information, please consult the IAVE website.
Schools support project for the analysis and use of external assessment reports (PAR)
With the PAR project, IAVE aims, in partnership with schools, to analyse and reflect upon the best way of using the external assessment reports to provide added value to students' learning. The focus is standardised test results reports (low stakes external assessment tests) of various subjects and curricular areas taken by 2nd, 5th and 8th grade students (individual standardised tests reports and standardised tests school reports).
The first phase of the project (2019-2020) involved 17 schools in Portugal and a Portuguese school in Cape Verde. The sessions with head teachers, teachers, parents and students directly involved in these tests saw participants sharing experiences on using the information in the reports, and identifying the difficulties arising from their analysis, thus helping with pedagogical application.
The second phase consisted of 18 short training courses for teachers working in Portuguese schools, to disseminate IAVE’s main recommendations to analyse and use these test results.
In 2021, the project is expected to be extended to more schools and a report will be published as a manual of good practices and guidelines, so that schools can operationalise and use the results generated by the external assessment tests effectively and in a pedagogically relevant manner.
Digitisation of educational services
As part of the administrative modernisation strategy (SIMPLEX), educational services have created a range of solutions to facilitate citizens’ interface with the educational system, as well as the management of student information within it. In the second half of 2020, key measures include:
- Enrolment Portal: expansion, dissemination and simplification of this platform, which allows all citizens to enrol their children electronically in pre-school, basic and upper secondary education (including vocational education), allowing the Ministry of Education to organise the following school year in a faster and more efficient way, while providing "real time" monitoring of demand and flows within the system.
- E360: the development and expansion of this IT system allows schools and educational administration bodies to manage student life cycles, providing a complete view of their educational pathway and supplying real-time information on students. Parents and guardians have access to features that make processes simpler and more transparent, increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of their interaction with the school.
- Pupil's Notebook App: one of the Youth Participation Budget Portugal project winners, this app was developed in 2020 and made available in schools that use E360 from 2020/21. The "Pupil’s Notebook" App offer simple features, which are available for the mobile channel, facilitating interaction between parents and schools, as well as the dissemination and archiving of useful information regarding students’ school life (timetables, curricula, activities, assessments, meetings, disciplinary issues, etc.).
Strategy to combat early school leaving
Following the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No 53-D, 20 July, particularly articles 22 to 24, the Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics (Direção-Geral de Estatísticas da Educação e Ciência - DGEEC) coordinated a working group with other educational administration bodies between September and December 2020. Different measures were recompiled to combat early school leaving and improve the system of global indicators to support intervention in this area.
Diagnostic work was first carried out by consulting educational services, academic experts, schools and partners with responsibilities in this area. This was done to understand how current indicators are developed, what improvements are necessary and how feasible it is to implement them. This led to a more robust and faster model for monitoring school dropouts, which will be gradually implemented over the next few years, continuously informing intervention in the field and the formulation of public policies.
Inclusive education
Decree-Law No 20-H/2020, 14 May established that schools, in conjunction with the respective National Commission for the Promotion of Children and Young People’s Rights and Protection, should organise reception and schoolwork activities, through the Multidisciplinary Support Team for Inclusive Education (Equipa Multidisciplinar de Apoio à Educação Inclusiva – EMAEI). This aims to provide at-risk students with the proper conditions for their safety, training, education, well-being and development. To this end, schools should guarantee the proper means and safety so these students can undertake school activities face-to-face and/or via distance education.
The "Guidelines for Multidisciplinary Support Teams for Inclusive Education in Distance Learning” and "Guidelines for the Bilingual Education of Deaf Students via Distance Learning", in conjunction with the Association of Deaf Sign Language Trainers and Assistantsand the Portuguese Federation of Associations for the Deaf, were drafted to support EMAEI in its work and help produce materials that are then made available on the school support site.
Between April 2019 and January 2021, the Portuguese Asperger Syndrome Association (Associação Portuguesa de Síndrome de Asperger - APSA) worked with the Ministry of Education to produce an Individual Transition Plan Implementation Guide, a proposal by APSA, which it subsequently edited and made available to all schools.
2020
Guidelines for the recovery and consolidation of learning throughout the 2020/2021 school year
The pandemic forces us to plan a school year marked by uncertainty but informed by the experience of the 2019/2020 third term. Aware of the learning that did not occur and students who had problems keeping up with their peers, with this crisis impacting on other critical aspects of school success, the Ministry of Education has produced a guide with a set of support and recovery measures to be implemented by schools, according to different settings and in coordination with the respective educational communities. These measures will be more intensive in the first five weeks of classes, but should occur throughout the school year, taking into account the needs in each school, particularly regarding the skills of students that are fundamental to learning and school success.
Digitalisation programme for schools
As part of the Action Plan for Digital Transition, approved in the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No 30/2020, 21 April, a set of measures was contemplated, including the Digitalisation Programme for Schools (Measure No. 1).
The Digitalisation Programme for Schools also involves major investment in the training of teachers, trainers from the National System of Qualifications and information technology technicians in each school, via a digital teacher training plan that provides the necessary skills for teaching in this new digital context. It also actively contributes to schools’ technological modernisation, making students more familiar with the productivity and collaboration tools they can find in a work environment.
This measure is in line with the Economic and Social Stabilisation Programme, which considers that the response to the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a structural need that had already been identified and described: the need to provide schools, teachers and students with digital skills in school work, offering significant investment to acquire technological infrastructure (See more detailed information in Section 14.5).
Boosting health measures for the 2020/2021 school year
The Ministry of Education, in coordination with the Ministry of Health, has established a set of general guidelines that facilitate a strategy focussed on preventing the disease and minimising the risk of transmission of the new coronavirus. They seek to guarantee safety and good hygiene in educational establishments through the adoption of a set of preventive measures and the creation of mechanisms and procedures that allow for the early detection of infection and their quick and appropriate management, in coordination with health authorities, as defined in each establishment's contingency plans. These measures have been complemented with extra funds available for schools, guaranteeing the acquisition of personal protection equipment for all professionals and students, as well as hygiene and cleaning products that help prevent contagion.
School year 2020/2021: exceptional and temporary measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic
During the 2020/2021 school year, uncertainty regarding how the COVID-19 disease pandemic will develop requires exceptional measures for the organisation and operation of pre-school, basic and secondary education establishments, including vocational schools, which ensure the restart of education and training, both teaching and non-teaching, on a safe basis for the entire educational community.
To this end, the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No 53-D/2020, 20 July, following Decree-Law No 10-A/2020, 13 March, and Decree-Law No 14-G/2020, 13 April, approved a set of measures in education for the 2019/2020 school year and Law No 20/2020, 1 July, which makes changes to the previous Decree.
Due to the current pandemic, three teaching scenarios are considered: face-to-face, mixed and distance education, the first scenario being the general option to be adopted. This means that the mixed and distance options will be employed on an exceptional and temporary basis, if necessary.
In mixed and non-face-to-face scenarios - used, when necessary and preferably, with students attending the 3rd cycle of basic and upper-secondary education, which may be extended exceptionally to the other education cycles, due to the worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic -, schools continue to offer activities for students:
- identified by the school as beneficiaries of school social assistance.
- identified by commissions for the protection of children and young people as being at risk or in danger.
- that the school considers not to benefit from mixed and non-face-to-face scenarios.
This resolution obeys the following principles:
a) The consolidation of mechanisms promoting equality and equity so that all students acquire the competencies in the Profile of Students Leaving Compulsory Education.
b) The affirmation of the face-to-face system as the rule and of the exceptional and temporary character of mixed and non-face-to-face scenarios.
c) Flexibility in the transition between the face-to-face, mixed and non-face-to-face regimes.
d) Priority for students attending classes until the end of the 2nd cycle and those who cannot be accompanied by teachers when not in a face-to-face context.
e) An appreciation of experience acquired in public health emergencies, in the planning and implementation of teaching in a non-face-to-face scenario and in the preparation of school areas.
f) The recognition of the importance of school as a support and condition for normal family, professional and economic life in the country.
An initial five-week period of the school year is dedicated to the consolidation of skills and knowledge of the previous school year. Schools have the autonomy to define forms of organisation that facilitate these tasks.
Support for students who benefit from additional measures, according to a work plan created by the multidisciplinary inclusive education support team (equipa multidisciplinar de apoio à educação inclusiva - EMAEI), in coordination with the class tutor, must be given using the face-to-face model, while obeying health authorities guidelines.
Specialised responses from benchmark schools in the area of vision and bilingual education of special education establishments and support provided as part of the National Early Childhood Intervention System should be provided face-to-face.
School mentoring programme
According to the Council of Ministers Resolution No 53-D/2020, schools should create a mentoring programme to encourage interpersonal relationships and cooperation among students. This programme should proceed via the identification of students who are willing to support their peers’ learning, clarify their doubts, integrate at school, prepare for assessments and other activities to improve school results.
The selection of mentoring and mentored students must obey criteria defined in the mentoring programme. It is the schools’ responsibility to provide the means for mentoring activities, including logistical support. Mentoring students’ participation is recorded on their certificate and may count towards classification. The student's family should be involved in the programme’s planning and development.
Strategy to combat school dropouts
The Council of Ministers Resolution No 53-D/2020 dictates that schools should provide specific monitoring of children and young people considered at risk of dropping out, raising awareness among teachers and, in particular, class tutors, for the early detection of this type of situation. Whenever such a situation is suspected, schools should organise integration activities and school work, in liaison with the relevant commission for the protection of children and young people, through the multidisciplinary inclusive education support team (EMAEI), to provide students with the means and conditions necessary for their safety, training, education, well-being and development.
The resolution also foresees the creation of a team that defines a strategy to combat school dropouts within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, producing global indicators forged by various services and bodies in education governance, which should be presented to the member of the government responsible for education by the end of the 1st term of the 2020/2021 school year.
Personal, social and community development plans
Socio-economic environment is a strong predictor of school success and inclusion, and schools should help mitigate socio-educational inequalities, ensuring access to knowledge as a key to social mobility and educational success for each and every student, while countering absenteeism and dropouts. As such, schools, and others with an educational impact in the community, should help strengthen school-family ties, the relationship between students and the community, between schools and associations, as well as cultural, recreational, artistic, sports, volunteer and solidarity movements.
As part of the National Programme for the Promotion of School Success (Programa Nacional de Promoção do Sucesso Escolar – PNPSE), personal, social and community development plans were created for the 2020/2021 school year. These facilitate socio-behavioural interventions that provide schools with extra human resources to implement measures to improve educational success and inclusion, such as: the improvement of social, emotional and personal development skills, a stronger relationship between school and family and the involvement of the community in the partnership for success.
The applications for the state school clusters/non-clustered schools to devise and show these plans were presented until 28 August, 2020, in accordance with the Edict, and are subject to analysis and approval by the PNPSE Mission Body, which will monitor the construction and implementation of the accepted plans.
Educational measures for the integration of unaccompanied foreign minors (MENA) in the educational system
As children and young people who are beneficiaries or applicants for international protection are more vulnerable, their reception at the respective school clusters/ non-clustered schools is of paramount importance.
To speed up the integration of these children and young people in our educational system, extraordinary educational measures have been authorised, such as equivalences, progressive integration into the curriculum and boosting Portuguese language learning, as well as school social assistance.
The measures taken have been published in the following documents:
Educational measures to integrate children and young refugees into the educational system
#Home study
When face-to-face teaching activities were suspended, it became essential to make resources available to support distance learning. #EstudoEmCasa (#HomeStudy) was essentially geared towards students who had little or no access to the internet and the resources made available there.
Through a partnership between the Ministry of Education, RTP (Portugal’s national television broadcaster), the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and four schools from different parts of the country whose teachers were available to teach via TV, lessons were scheduled on the RTP Memória channel, ensuring that all those who have television could access these resources. The daily broadcasts on free-to-air television ran from 20 April to 26 June, from Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 6 pm.
#EstudoEmCasa was not an autonomous kind of teaching for students. The content presented and the resources made available did not replace the role of teachers. The students continued to belong to their original classes, with teachers and class tutors being primarily responsible for their monitoring, as well as formative and summative assessment.
However, it was not enough to simply broadcast the content on television, because this did not guarantee learning. Teachers and class tutors were in regular contact with the students, via messages, collective texts or other means of combating social isolation, safeguarding their well-being and keeping track of their learning, in interaction with the other class teachers. Ways for students without connectivity and/or computer equipment were devised to maintain contact with teachers.
#EstudoEmCasa created educational content not intended to replace school but to ensure coordination with it and having teachers "online" to reduce distances.
A platform was also created on YouTube, which allowed teachers to make their classes available, and more accessible to the wider educational community. Support materials were drafted, promoting the acquisition of skills with the methodologies that best suited the platform.
See support materials and other relevant information here.
National monitoring, supervision and research project in pedagogical evaluation (MAIA)
The MAIA project is national in scope and its primary purpose is to transform and improve evaluation and teaching practices, in order to boost student learning through the integration of pedagogical evaluation in curricular development processes, articulating it with teaching and learning.
The project focusses on three areas: skills acquisition, monitoring and research, in close collaboration with 91 School Association Training Centres (Centros de Formação da Associação de Escolas - CFAE), as well as school boards and teachers, working with training workshops while using a "training-session" methodology and organising intervention projects in the teachers’ classes. The project involves about 200 teacher trainers and/or advisers for autonomy and curricular flexibility, nationwide, with training and follow-up work already done with about 2,000 teachers.
The project also involves producing support materials that aids consistent procedures in all CFAE, for the credibility of training and research. The ongoing process also includes the design, drafting and administration of questionnaire surveys, as well as producing a report with recommendations and conclusions that may support the development of public education policies in pedagogical evaluation.
See the following websites:
https://www.valedominho.com/acd073t1
https://blogue.rbe.mec.pt/avaliacao-para-as-e-das-aprendizagens-e-2294476
2019/2020 school year: exceptional and temporary measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Following Decree-Law No 10-A/2020, 13 March, which approved exceptional and temporary measures related to the COVID-19 disease, including the suspension of face-to-face teaching and non-teaching activities, the Government approved Decree-Law No 14-G/2020, 13 April. This legislation creates exceptional and temporary measures in education within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically relating to learning and how it is evaluated, the school calendar, test and exam schedules for basic and secondary education, enrolment, registration for national final exams and teaching and non-teaching staff. The main objective is to ensure continuity of the 2019/2020 school year in as fair, equitable and standardised manner as possible.
The abovementioned decree-law applies to pre-school education and education and training provision for basic and secondary education that is provided in non-higher, public, private and cooperative educational establishments, including vocational, public and private schools. It also applies to distance education, and to individual and home schooling.
The following are some of the measures to be implemented:
- Learning is achieved using a non-face-to-face model, and schools should define and implement a distance learning plan, with appropriate methodologies for the available resources and evaluation criteria, which take into account students’ situations and equitable access to learning.
- Face-to-face classes for Grades 11 and 12 for subjects that have a national final exam, with remaining subjects taught in non-face-to-face mode (as of May 18th).
- For the 2019/2020 school year, the following are cancelled: standardised tests for Grades 2, 5 and 8; final tests of basic education at the end of Grade 9; school level tests that serve as final exams of basic education; national final exams, when taken by boarding students to pass a subject and conclude upper-secondary education.
- Extension of the school calendar in June and postponement of the national exams for the conclusion of upper-secondary school (1st phase: from June to July; 2nd phase: from July to September).
- In upper-secondary education, students take national final exams only in those subjects they chose as entrance exams for higher education.
Curriculum and Essential Learning
In 2020, the work on Essential Learning (Aprendizagens Essenciais - AE) for all subjects of the socio-cultural component and the scientific component of Vocational Courses (Cursos Profissionais - CP) continues, while the AE of the subjects for the scientific component disciplines of upper-secondary Specialised Artistic Courses (Cursos Artísticos Especializados - CAE) is also being developed.
For more information on this subject, see content for previous years below.
Learning Communities Project INCLUD-ED
The INCLUD-ED project enjoys technical support from CREA (Community of Research on Excellence for All), which began training a group of 40 trainers, as well as monitoring and training the teams responsible for implementing the project in each of the educational communities involved in November 2019.
For more information on this subject, see content for previous years below.
Curricular flexibility and autonomy
As part of Curricular Flexibility and Autonomy (AFC), each of the five regional monitoring teams held regional meetings with the schools in their regions in November and December 2019. In addition to this, these teams carried out several supervisory visits to schools, at the school’s request or the teams' initiative, as well as clarification meetings regarding the preparation of Innovation Plans for the 2020/2021 school year.
Between December 2019 and February 2020, there was intensive monitoring of public, private and cooperative educational establishments, including vocational schools, public and private, which, in line with Ordinance No 181/2019, 11 June, presented Innovation Plans assuming management of over 25% of the total workload (basic curricula).
By February 2020, a total of 80 curricular and pedagogical innovation plans were approved.
For more information on this subject, see content for previous years below.
Inclusive education
Law No 116/2019, 13 September, makes the first amendment to Decree-Law No 54/2018, 6 July, which establishes the legal framework for inclusive education, consolidating the powers of schools and multidisciplinary teams to support inclusive education in defining and implementing measures to support learning and inclusion.
The following occurred in January 2020 as part of the monitoring and supervision foreseen in this legislation:
- multidisciplinary technical teams organised thematic workshops in school clusters and non-grouped schools designed specifically for head teachers and coordinators of the multidisciplinary teams supporting inclusive education (see Article 12 of Decree-Law No 54/2018, 6 July), involving approximately 1,600 participants.
- implementation of an e-questionnaire for education and teaching establishments on support for learning and inclusion.
Valuing the teaching career
As part of the legal framework of inclusive education, two train-the-trainer courses are planned for 2020: (i) "The Role of the Multidisciplinary Support Team for Inclusive Education in creating an inclusive school" (workshop) and (ii) "The special education teacher in successful inclusive education" (course).
In February 2020, the "Technologies for Inclusion and Accessibility" seminar took place, with the participation of approximately 250 teachers and national experts as speakers; a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on the same theme is also planned.
Monitoring group for the pilot project to offer Mandarin as a foreign language on the upper- secondary education syllabus
This project has been implemented in 13 public schools and extended to vocational courses (Despatch No 7728/2019). As such, four new schools have joined the nine schools already involved in the project in the previous school year, reaching 420 students.
As part of the monitoring process for these pilot schools, an Information and Sharing Meeting was held with the schools, representatives of the Pilot-project monitoring group and other ME departments.
Mathematics working group
With the publication of the 2018 PISA results, the Mathematics Working Group aims to include the study of the Republic of Estonia’s mathematics programme, adding this to the other cases analysed in the first version of the report - USA, Finland and Singapore.