Requirements for appointment
Initial qualifications of the inspectors from the Inspectorate-General of Education and Science: bachelor’s degree (licenciatura), i.e., first cycle degree. Having additional qualifications (post-graduate certificate, master’s degree and doctorate) is only considered if one of the selection methods for the application process is curriculum assessment.
The new legal framework does not refer to professional pre-requisites. However, each inspector’s recruitment process may demand that candidates have specific experience.
Differences between the basic training areas: job vacancies opened via an application process stem from needs listed in education areas/dominions (e.g., pre-school, English, biology, physics, law) related to the first-cycle academic degree or legal equivalent.
Additional training and exams: candidates nominated for the career of inspector following a competition procedure depends on passing a specific training course, which takes place during a trial period. The specific training course is made up of initial theoretical training (two months), and training in a work context (five months).
Conditions of service
Recruitment: notification about a recruitment procedure is published in the government gazette (Diário da República). There are mandatory selection methods: knowledge test and psychological evaluation. Once these phases have been completed, the selected candidates work during a trial period, during which they are overseen by a panel.
Professional status: public employee – specialised inspection career.
Salary: There are 16 salary scales in the specialised inspection career, ranging between 16 and 70 on the single salary index tables.
Working hours: 35 hours a week.
Professional mobility: possible for other careers in public administration.
Dismissals: no provisions have been made for such measures. It is only possible to dismiss an inspector if a serious offence has been committed and a disciplinary process has been applied.
Retirement: with no loss of remuneration: 66 years and seven months of age.
Continuous professional training/development: there are two kinds of training – IGEC in-house training and self-training. The former is part of IGEC's annual training plan - which focusses on issues relevant to inspections, normally with the collaboration of external specialists - and the preparation that precedes inspection foreseen in the annual activities plan. For the latter, inspectors have 100 hours credit per year that they can use for training of their choice in areas directly or indirectly related to professional duties.