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PORTUGAL

BASIC DATA
Official Country Name:	Portuguese Republic
Region:	Europe
Population:	10,048,232
Language(s):	Portuguese
Literacy Rate:	87.4%
Academic Year:	October-July
Compulsory Schooling:	9 years
Public Expenditure on Education:	5.8%
Foreign Students in National Universities:	6,140
Libraries:	219

Educational Enrollment:	Primary: 896,681
	Secondary: 947,478
	Higher: 319,525
Educational Enrollment Rate:	Primary: 128%
	Secondary: 111%
	Higher: 39%
Female Enrollment Rate:	Primary: 124%
	Secondary: 116%
	Higher: 44%

HISTORY & BACKGROUND

The beginning of Portugal's history can be traced back to the twelfth century. The Iberian Peninsula was once a unified region. At the end of the eleventh century, Afonso VI, King of Leon, married his daughter Urraca to Count Raymond of Burgundy. His other daughter, Tareja, who was illegitimate, was married to Henry of Burgundy. As a wedding gift, Count Raymond of Burgundy received the region of Galicia, the second area between the Minho and the Tagus, called Condado Portucalense. When Afonso VI died, military and political struggles took place in the Christian kingdoms. Afonso Henriques, son of Tareja, had the necessary military forces to achieve independence. Portugal became an autonomous country in 1143 and Afonso Henriques received the title of king in 1179.

Public instruction took place in the cathedrals, Episcopal churches, convents and monasteries. Reading, writing, and grammar were taught in Latin, but it was spoken only by a few religious people and ambassadors from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. It was necessary to have vocabularies in both Latin and Portuguese. During the reign of King Dinis (1279-1325), Portuguese was declared the official language. The first written texts in Portuguese, mainly translations from Latin texts, appeared in the beginning of the thirteenth century. People were taught through oral transmission: cantigas (songs composed by troubadours), chivalry novels, sermons and proverbs. D. Dinis founded the first Portuguese university in Lisbon in 1290, moving it to the city of Coimbra in 1308.

In 1385, with the Master of Avis, King John I, the epoch of world exploration starts. The focus of the feudal system changed to commerce. This social transformation brought a new conscience, best described as "man has a creative power that enables him to dominate the universe." In order to achieve this transformation a person needed knowledge. In addition to reading and writing, the merchants living in Oporto and Lisbon acquired the ability to count.

The sixteenth century was the golden age of world exploration. In the kingdom of John III (1521-57) the university, which had been moved back to Lisbon, once more returned to Coimbra (1537) and the Colégio das Artes (School of Arts) was created. Teachers and masters were recruited from France. Latin, Greek, Hebrew, mathematics, logic, and philosophy were taught. The philosophy of Aristotelic rationalism replaced the previous medieval theology. With the death of André de Gouveia, head of the school, a crisis began, and in 1555 the management of the school was handed over to the Companhia de Jesus (Company of Jesus), and became a center of theological studies. Primary and secondary schools were established and mainly maintained by religious congregations.

An organized censorship was introduced by the Spanish Inquisition in 1540. Inquisition, censorship, and the Jesuit education intervened in the cultural development of the country. Writings of well-known authors such as Gil Vicente, Luis de Camo~es, and Bernardim Ribeiro were considered against the faith and good customs. The Portuguese language became more grammatically established when João de Barros wrote the Gramática da Língua Portuguesa in 1540.

With Portuguese exploration, there was an overseas expansion to Africa, Asia, and South America. The chief discovery was Brazil in 1500. Primary schooling was started there, primarily to convert the natives. Father Antonio Vieira, the most famous author of Baroque prose, was sent to Brazil principally for this purpose.

A change of mentality occurred in the eighteenth century, with the theories of the Enlightenment. This intellectual movement of renovation started in England and reached its high point with the French revolution. The ideas and philosophy of Diderot, D'Alembert, Voltaire, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau had great influence. Spanish influence was replaced by French, Italian, English, and German thinking.

Beginning in 1755, King Joseph (1750-77) with the help of his prime minister, the Marquis of Pombal, adopted foreign theories based on "reason." There was a direct intervention by the state on the teaching and cultural systems. Jesuits were forbidden to teach and were expelled from the country in 1759, and religious censorship was replaced by the Real Mesa Censória in 1768. Even religious charity institutions involved in teaching were replaced by a systematized education. The Marquis of Pombal was able to perform a complete renewal of the whole political and educational structure in 1755 due to an earthquake that destroyed the city of Lisbon. A new city was created in its place, and a renewal of the educational system was introduced. Luís Antonio Verney (1731-92) wrote O Verdadeiro Método de Estudar (1746), with the intention of ensuring that the following subjects would be taken into account in education: writing, languages, rhetoric, arithmetic, humanities, sciences, and dance. In 1768 the Escola de Comércio (Commercial School) started providing education for the bourgeois class. Females had access to school for the first time beginning in the eighteenth century, under the reign of Queen Mary I (1777-1816), who also founded the Academia Real das Ciências (Royal Academy of Sciences) and the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library). Educational progress was slow during the nineteenth century. With the introduction of journalism as a means of communication, reading became more important, although until 1900 the rate of illiteracy was about 80 percent. New schools continued to be opened, with institutions specializing in agriculture, medicine, and humanities (Faculdades de Letras). Free primary schooling was guaranteed by the constitutions of 1822 and 1926. Wellknown writers were engaged in improving education, and many composed books and essays with this purpose. Antonio Feliciano de Castilho contributed with Método Português Castilho (1850) and Felicidade pela Instrução (1854). João de Deus fought illiteracy with his Cartilha Maternal (1876). In the twentieth century major changes occurred. Elementary school was reformed in 1901. Instruction was divided into ensino infantil (preschooling) from the ages of 4 to 6; primeiro grau (elementary school), which was obligatory and free for both genders between the age of 6 and 12; and segundo grau (middle school), which was not obligatory but was paid. The republic was proclaimed in 1910, and a new Decreto (law) remodeled the educational system. Ensino primário (elementary school) was divided into elementary, which lasted for three years for children with a minimum age of seven; complementary, with a duration of two years for children beginning at age 10; and superior, three years for students beginning at age 12. When they graduated they could go to Escolas normais primárias (teaching schools for elementary education), or to regular courses in industrial, agricultural, commercial, or technical schools. Escolas móveis (mobile schools) were created where it was not possible to have permanent schools. The 1910 Decreto was replaced in 1919, at which time obligatory schooling was extended from three to five years, and elementary and complementary school were transformed into one course called ensino primário (elementary school) with obligatory attendance.

The Ministry of Public Instruction that had been created in 1913 was eliminated with in 1926 when the fascist regime Estado Novo (new state) of Antonio Oliveira Salazar took over the country. This regime ruled until 25 April 1974. In 1936 the livro único (sole book) was institutionalized for elementary education. Salazar closed the escolas móveis that had been important for adult literacy. He replaced the escolas normais superiores (higher normal schools) with cursos de ciências pedagógicas (pedagogical science programs) and the escolas normais primárias with the escolas de magistério primárias. The former schools were for women, the latter for both genders. In 1930 the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa was founded, uniting several colleges.

The Republic had given initial autonomy to women as to career and employment. Divorce was legalized, and in 1914 the Conselho das Mulheres Portuguesas (Council of Portuguese Women) was created to defend women's rights. Salazar's regime was a setback. Women who stayed at home were cherished, and in 1939 a law was introduced allowing men to make their wives return home in case they left them. From 1950 to 1960, Salazar introduced a law that prevented women from obtaining a passport or leaving the country without her husband's authorization.

Major changes took place with a 1974 coup (Revolução dos Cravos). The Portuguese speaking countries in Africa (Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, and the Islands of São Tomé and Príncipe) gained independence from Portugal. In 1975, one year of compulsory serviço cívico (civic service) became obligatory before entering the university. The Constitution of 1976 gave equal rights to both men and women without discrimination. In this same year coeducation became obligatory.

Marcelo Caetano, Salazar's successor, created the Ministry of Education, proposed the reform of the secondary school, and encouraged student repression. Teachers of elementary schools, in addition to their normal duties, had to perform other tasks such as teaching illiterate adults and functioning as agents of community development.

The government elected in 1991 began to emphasize modernization and decentralization. Some of its goals continued into the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. Portugal joined the European Common Market and sought to promote the Portuguese language and culture at home and abroad, to modernize public administration, and to give more local power to educational institutions by decentralization.

CONSTITUTIONAL & LEGAL FOUNDATIONS

National education policies, curricula, and specific programs are administered by the Ministry of Education. Principles and rules are established by decretos-leis (legal decrees). The basic educational law, Lei 46/86, dates from 14 October 1986. It has 64 articles (artigos) divided into nine chapters (capítulos). Chapters I and II define general and organizational principles; chapter III determines the support and educational complements for successful learning; chapter IV establishes the careers and the requirements for educators to teach; chapter V determines the organization of material resources; chapter VI establishes the principles and forms of educational administration; chapter VII determines the forms of development and evaluation of the system; chapter VIII defines the role of private and cooperative teaching; and chapter IX deals with the transition, implementation, and application of the law. Another law, Decreto-Lei 43/89, of 3 February 1989, is an additional document that establishes the juridical regime of school's autonomy in basic and secondary education.

Besides establishing a basic educational policy, the law 46/86 (Lei de Bases do Sistema Educativo) declares that education is universal, compulsory, and free of charge for all children until the age of nine years. Education is compulsory from the age of 6 to 15. This is still the key law.

Other laws of significance are the law that established the teaching career, Decreto-Lei 139-A/90, and the law that modifies the teaching career for elementary and secondary, Decreto-Lei 1/98.

Portugal has advanced immensely in the last few decades. From the coup in 1974 to the twenty-first century, freedom and autonomy have been granted to educational institutions and contemporary social concerns have been addressed, such as special education for disabled children, access for immigrant children to Portuguese language and culture, promotion of the Portuguese language abroad, and the use of democratic rights by teachers, students, and parents in the form of associations.

Beginning in the year 2000, the third part of PRODEP III, or Programa de Desenvolvimento Educativo para Portugal (Educational Development Program for Portugal) was put into action. This program was established with the European Commission and is designed to be in effect until 2006. The first two parts of the program, PRODEP I and II, contributed heavily to the development of the country's educational system throughout the decade of the 1990s.

The financial resources made available by PRODEP III are directed towards the various levels of instruction, such as basic, secondary, and higher education, and also to professional schools. More importantly, PRODEP III allocates funds for professional development of those individuals directly involved in the teaching process. This effort helps keep teaching professionals up-to-date with the latest technological advances.

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM—OVERVIEW

The educational system as it was established by the Law 46/86 has a number of divisions:

1. preschool education;
2. basic education with three cycles; the first cycle is four years, the second cycle is two years, and the third cycle is three years, with the first six years of basic education being compulsory and free;
3. Secondary education lasts three years, with a choice among general courses, technological courses, vocational courses, and courses of specialized artistic education;
4. higher education is divided into university education and polytechnic education, and the student can graduate with a bacharelato (bachelor's degree) or licenciatura (license to teach);
5. Mestrado (master's degree), and
6. Doutorado (doctorate degree).

The school year runs from October through July. Schools have double and even triple shifts in some cases (morning, afternoon, and evening). The curricula are formulated by the Ministry of Education. In addition to public schools, there are also private ones, mainly Roman Catholic. There is also indirect education in remote and peripheral zones with the use of television, although the government is trying to make the whole system direct. The school year is divided into two semesters of 15 to 16 weeks each. There is an effort to have classes no larger than 25 pupils. Each teacher is responsible for one subject.

PREPRIMARY & PRIMARY EDUCATION

Preprimary Education: The family is in charge of the child's education at an early stage. The role of the family is complemented or supplemented with educação préescolar (preschool education). Preschool education is part of the Departamento de Educação Básica (Department of Basic Education), and is organized into public and private nursery schools. Since 1977, there is a legal provision for one year of preprimary education, but because the government recognizes the importance of the family in the child's learning process from the age of three to six, attendance is optional.

The purpose of preschool is to stimulate the child's skills, introduce him or her to a system, encourage the development of a number of potential abilities, help acquire a sense of order and responsibility, and promote social integration at an early stage. Awareness is a keyword in this process.

Basic Education: Educação básica (basic education) starts at the age of six and lasts for nine years. As the name implies, it is a basic and general education that allows the student to pursue higher levels of education.

Basic education is universal, compulsory, and free of charge. It is divided into three cycles of different duration. The first cycle lasts four years. It includes the development of speech, reading, and writing, and basic skills in the subjects of arithmetic, artistic expression, drama, music, and sports.

The second cycle lasts two years. Education is centered on the previous humanistic, artistic, and physical studies, along with scientific, technological, sociological, and economical studies. Emphasis is given to developing creative and critical thinking, and methodology is introduced in several of the fields taught. Moral and civic education is also introduced at this stage.

The third cycle lasts three years. There is a continuation of the previous teaching, but is focused on the student's future either in continuing studies or in joining the work force. Vocational guidance is given to help prepare the student for the future. The twelfth year is the ano propedêutico (a year of preparation for higher level studies).

Adult Education: Part of the Department of Basic Education is the Ensino Básico Recorrente (Basic Education for Adults). It provides an opportunity for adults who did not have a previous chance to study, or who failed or dropped out of school, to integrate into the societal system. It also allows adult professional improvement. At the end of the third cycle of this learning process, adults receive a diploma or certificate similar to regular education. There is a curricular program with evaluation, but learning is focused on an interdisciplinary approach to round out the adult's personality. The goal of adult education is to help eliminate illiteracy. In 1990 the rate of illiteracy was 13 percent, mainly in rural areas and among women.

Special Education: There are special schools for handicapped children, although they are often included in normal classes. The Instituto Antonio Coelho and the Instituto Condessa de Rilvas are responsible for mentally retarded children. The Instituto de Assistência aos Menores takes care of the visually and hearing impaired youngsters. The Centro Infantil Helen Keller is also in charge of the visually impaired. In 1973 the Ministry of Education set up a department of special education to help out the basic and secondary levels. Teachers are prepared at the Centro de Preparação de Pessoal da Direccção Geral de Assistência.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Secondary education in Portugal is administered by the Department of Secondary Education. Depending on the student's aims, he/she can pursue Cursos Gerais (general courses) if he/she wants to continue to higher education, or Cursos Tecnológicos (technological courses) to prepare for the job market. Each of these courses lasts three years and corresponds to the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth school year. At the end of the twelfth year of the general courses, a diploma is awarded that specifies the course completed and the final grade, allowing the student to apply for higher education. A Vocational Qualification Certificate is awarded at the end of the technological course that allows students to access the job market.

According to the Constitution and to the secondary curricular structure, the main objectives of secondary education are to create conditions for personal and social fulfillment; to consolidate the student's culture through knowledge, instruments, and methodologies; to help define individual interests and vocational options; and to prepare the student intellectually and emotionally for a role in society.

Additionally, there is secondary education for adults, similar to the normal secondary education, divided into general courses and technological courses. There are also visual art courses for adults, part of the special artistic education, divided into Curso geral and Curso tecnológico do ensino artístico, both leading to a twelfth year diploma.

Vocational Education: If the student is not going to pursue a university career, he/she can get technical training for three years following the ninth year of schooling organized in modules or autonomous learning units. These units allow the student to learn at his/her own pace. There is flexibility in training according to individual needs and potentials. If the student completes the studies successfully, he/she will receive a diploma, which allows acceptance at the university in the future. The student also receives another diploma, a vocational certificate, enabling him/her for the job market. Vocational education is a response to shortcomings in local and regional markets.

Artistic Education: Visual arts, dance, and music are specific courses designed for those with potential ability and interest in one of these artistic expressions. Plastic arts and musical expression are taught beginning in preschool. Visual education, such as art and design, is part of the secondary education. Artistic education provides training for professional preparation in these fields. It encourages individual and group practices and stimulates creativity. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation has a school that teaches music students at the primary and secondary levels. Lisbon and Oporto have schools of fine arts on a higher level. Lisbon also has a National Conservatory and a Gregorian Institute. Other cities have musical conservatories and visual arts institutions as well.

HIGHER EDUCATION

Higher education consists of university education and polytechnic education. Both are supervised by the Direcção Geral do Ensino Superior (General Office for Higher Education). Each university has a general assembly, a faculty council, and a pedagogical and scientific council. The head of each university is the reitor (rector), and all rectors are members of the National Board of Education.

The aim of higher education is to provide students scientific, cultural, and technical preparation for their professional career. The Licenciatura ranges from four to six years. Further specialization can be pursued with a mestrado (master's degree) and doutorado (doctorate degree).

Higher education is also undertaken in polytechnic institutes with the purpose of developing specific skills and knowledge in professional activities. These institutes offer a Bacharelato (bachelor's degree) after six semesters or a Licenciatura following eight semesters of pedagogical training.

The most traditional universities are in Lisbon, Coimbra, and Oporto. The University of Coimbra is the nation's oldest university. Like other universities, it has several colleges and institutes.

There is an entrance examination for the university that can be waived if the secondary school degrees are very high. In 1975 the Revolutionary Council approved a law obliging students to perform one year of public service before entering the university.

Faculty is organized in four ranks: lecturer, assistant professor, associate professor, and full professor. Universities recruit their faculty through competitive examination and appropriate credentials.

ADMINISTRATION, FINANCE, & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Administration: The Ministry of Education centralizes the educational system in Portugal, although autonomy has been given to the islands of Azores and Madeira. The Ministry has several departments and institutes, including departments for basic education, secondary education, and higher education. There are other departments or directorates for special education; adult education; technological, artistic, and vocational education; distance education; and educational technology. Councils and consulting bodies complement this structure. The advisory bodies are the National Education Committee, the Private and Cooperative Education Coordinating Committee, the Committee of Higher Education, and the National School Sports Committee. The technical and planning bodies are formed by the General Secretariat, the Planning and Research Bureau, and the Financial Management Bureau. The Institute for Educational Research is responsible for research and educational development. The Ministry of Education also works in conjunction with other ministries such as health, labor, and social welfare; culture; and public works.

Since decentralization and regionalization was established in 1976 and effectively implemented in the 1990s, Portugal has been divided into central and regional bodies, each with its own directorate. There is one directorate for each of the five regions of Portugal (Direcção Regional de Educação do Norte, Direcção Regional de Educação do Centro, Direcção Regional de Educação de Lisboa, Direcção Regional de Educação do Alentejo, and Direcção Regional de Educação do Algarve). The Ministry of Education is responsible for educational guidelines, administrative and planning support, coordination of developmental research, and social policy.

Finance: The GEF, or Gabinete de Gestão Financeira (Financial Management Bureau), is an autonomous branch of the Ministry of Education in charge of financial programming and management of projects cofinanced by the European Union. The budget of the Ministry of Education in the year 2001 was about US$6.8 million, which represents an increase of 9.8 percent in comparison to the previous year.

The Ministry of Education pays the salary of teaching staff and faculty for public schools and universities. Municipalities are in charge of elementary schools for administration and construction. The Ministry of Public Works is responsible for other construction. Tuition is free for students, but they must pay for books and school materials. Grants for needy students are available from social services.

NONFORMAL EDUCATION

The Ministry of Education created the GAERI, or Gabinete de Assuntos Europeus e Relaço~es Internacionais (Office for European and International Relations) through the Decree-Law 59/96 to take care of assuntos comunitários (community issues), assuntos bilaterais e multilaterais (bilateral and multilateral issues), and cooperação para o desenvolvimento (developmental cooperation). The objective of GAERI is to fulfill the needs of the European Common Market. Several projects are being developed by the Instituto de Inovação Educacional (Institute of Educational Innovations) in this direction. There are over 110 projects available, elaborated by a team of professors from several countries. This is part of the distance learning process. Some of the main projects developed by Portugal in conjunction with other countries are: "The image of the other," "Women all over the world," "Islands projects," "Art gallery," "Life in my part of the world," "Global water sampling project," and "Radiodata." The last two projects highlight a main concern of the Institute of Educational Innovations with environmental issues involving the decline of life quality. The institute tries to identify the evolution of national measures for environmental protection and to disseminate these notions through nonformal education in the media and schools in order to bring awareness to the youngsters who can make a difference in the future of the world.

The European Schools Project is a European initiative to promote telecommunications in basic and secondary schools throughout the world. It was started in 1988 at the University of Amsterdam and has the participation of more than 300 schools in 26 countries. The use of the Internet to promote better learning is one of its main purposes.

Other projects involve the teaching of the Portuguese language and the development of knowledge of Portuguese culture through books and television programs to Portuguese speaking countries, the PALOP, or Países de Língua Oficial Portuguesa (countries of official Portuguese language). In the African Portuguese speaking countries, Portuguese is only one of many languages and generally the official one for schooling and business communication.

TEACHING PROFESSION

Teachers for nursery schools are educated for three years in escolas de educadores de infância. Basic education teachers are trained in escolas do magistério primário. There is an entrance exam, and the course lasts three years. For all other levels, the training is done in escolas superiores de educação. If the teachers have a bacharelato or licenciatura, they take a two-year theoretical and practical training course; otherwise they have to pursue a four- or five-year course at a higher level. Secondary school teachers take courses that last four years, or five if they continue pedagogical or professional training. Special education is taught at the Instituto Antonio Aurélio da Costa Ferreira in Lisbon, and hearing impaired training is also taught at the Instituto Jacob Rodrigues Pereira.

SUMMARY

The Iberian Peninsula, which includes Portugal and Spain, has always been considered separate from the rest of Europe. Innovations from the rest of Europe were introduced up to a century after they had been instituted in other countries. Two major changes occurred in the twentieth century that helped Portugal catch up with the rest of Europe. The first was the Revolution of 1975, which introduced democratic reform. The second was Portugal's admission to the European Common Market. Financial aid, technological cooperation, and a renewed educational system helped diminish the educational gap and allowed Portugal to compete with other countries in the twenty-first century.

The Ministry of Education office in Portugal has faced continual challenges throughout its existence, especially with demands for a standardized education throughout Europe. Major reforms took place in Portugal in the 1980s and 1990s: development of polytechnic higher education as an alternative to university higher education, implementation of school management with the participation of the community (parents, local authorities, etc.), reform of school curricula by integrating subject contents of different fields of knowledge, and collaboration of state support in private vocational schools.

In the 1990s, the demand for a completely free education became a proverbial battle between the Ministry of Education and students from public universities across the country. Prior to the 1990s, private higher education institutions were nonexistent, and the small number of enrollments available in public universities was responsible for a huge gap between the number of applicants and the number of admissions. To complicate matters, access to universities was dependent on different factors dictated by different governments. Admissions criteria varied from a student's twelfth year of schooling as the determining factor in admission to a student's placement on nationwide standardized exams. Admissions criteria then became based on a student's placement on the controversial PGA, or Prova Geral de Acesso (general access exam), in conjunction with his/her grades from the tenth through the twelfth years of school. The PGA was later replaced by the Provas Específicas (specific exams), which tested candidates to the university according to their fields of expertise.

In any case, access to a university was a competitive process that left thousands of students each year waiting for another opportunity the next year. Among those who made it, there existed a gap between those receiving a nearly free education at public universities and those dealing with the high cost of studying at a private university. After graduating from a program, the Portuguese students had another challenge, finding a job that corresponded to their education, training, and aspirations.

As of the early 2000s, the way universities offer their cursos (courses) differs from the United States. Courses in Portugal consist of a predefined program for the duration of the student's education. Rather than random classes, students pick from programs in specific fields. As most universities tend to specialize in a limited number of subject areas, students have a limited choice of schools that offer the courses pertinent to their vocation.

Students in secondary education voiced their concerns in an active way. In the early twenty-first century, it is a common occurrence in Portugal for students to boycott classes and organize manifestations in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Education or one of its regional branches. One concern of students was sex education classes, which students claimed were promised to be in the curriculum many years prior but had never been included. High school students have also been known to voice their disagreement, as when the Ministry of Education proposed to increase the length of the class period from 50 to 90 minutes.

The twenty-first century offers the challenge of broadening access to higher education for more students, the training and development of teachers to face the increasing number of students, and increased vocational education for a more demanding and specialized job market. Education in Portugal is developing at an accelerated rate in all aspects. Illiteracy rates have fallen consistently in the last years. There have never been so many students in higher education, and so many pursuing graduate studies. The country is developing rapidly, and education is accompanying this strong evolution.

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—Monica Rector and Pedro Lopes