Education in Portugal

Education in Portugal is a subject of controversy due to its multiple aspects, tonalities, subsystems, constant transformations and reforms. There are also concerns related to the school abandon phenomenon (mostly in the secondary and higher education systems) and the multigenerational high functional illiteracy rate.

Contents
1 Pre-Primary Education
2 Pre-Higher Education

2.1 Basic Education
2.2 Secondary Education
2.3 Other Types of School Education

3 Higher Education

3.1 University vs. Non-University
3.2 Degree Significance
3.3 Admission
3.4 The Most Prestigious

4 Teacher Education
5 Non-Traditional Studies
6 Private vs. Public
7 See also
8 External links

Pre-Primary Education

Pre-primary education is optional from the ages of 3 to 5, and is provided in both state-run and private nursery schools. State-run nursery provision is free of charge; fees are payable for private nursery schools.

Pre-Higher Education

Basic Education lasts for nine years divided into three stages of four, two and three years respectively. The stages are respectively Ensino Básico – 1º Ciclo; Ensino Básico – 2º Ciclo and Ensino Básico – 3º Ciclo. A Diploma/Certificate is awarded at the end of the third stage. Secondary education - public, private and cooperative - is compulsory and consists of a three-year cycle after basic education. Access is through the Certificate of Basic Education. There are two types of courses: general courses and technical/vocational courses, providing instruction in technical, technological, professional fields and in the Portuguese language and culture. Permeability between the courses is guaranteed. The teaching and practice of technical, technological or artistic courses are provided by vocational schools and special schools for education in Arts. Courses are sanctioned by the Certificado de Habilitações do Ensino Secundário/Diploma de Ensino Secundário (Secondary School Credential), which is the prerequisite for access to higher education.

Basic Education

In Portugal, Basic Education consists of nine years of schooling divided into three sequential cycles of education of four, two and three years.

Children aged six by 15 September must be enrolled in their first school year in that calendar year. In addition, children who reach the age of 6 between 16 September and 31 December may be authorized to attend the first stage of education, provided a request is submitted by their parents or guardians to the school nearest to their residence (or place of work) during the annual enrolment period. State-run schools are free of charge. The first cycle of basic mandatory education covers years 1st-4th, the second cycle years 5th-6th and the third cycle years 7th-9th. The curriculum contains only general education until the 9th year at which point vocational subjects are introduced.

Secondary Education

It is only after the 9th grade of basic schooling that the Portuguese General Education system branches out into different secondary programmes, one higher education-oriented (general secondary courses/programmes) and the other more work-oriented (technological secondary courses/programmes). The conclusion of secondary education (general or technological courses) with passing grades confers a diploma, which will certificate the qualification thus obtained and, in the case of work-oriented programmes the qualification for specific jobs. These two types of courses share the same three dimensional structure of general, specific and technical subjects, and contain a common core of subjects (general subjects): Portuguese Language, Introduction to Philosophy, Foreign Language I or II, Physical Education, Social and Personal Development or Moral Education and catholic religion or other religions. The secondary education is completed in the 12th grade of schooling.

Other Types of School Education

There are also special modalities of school education. The programmes offered by vocational schools, those of the apprenticeship system and those of recurrent studies are considered as a special modality of school education. These programmes are not regular, because they are not included in the mainstream regular progression of the education system to which they are an alternative given that they were designed to respond to specific educational needs of different target-groups of the population. All of these programmes offer initial vocational and education training, although the recurrent studies also offer general education. Recurrent education consists of non-regular programmes of study or modular or single units because they are not complete training cycles and they are not included in the regular progression of the education system. The recurrent education provides a second opportunity of training for those who did not undertake training at the normal age or who left school early. Recurrent education covers the three cycles of basic education and the secondary education. The recurrent education is characterized by the flexibility and adaptability to the students’ learning cycle, availability, knowledge and experiences. The recurrent secondary education branches into two types of courses: the general course for those who want to continue their studies and the technical courses that are work-oriented and confer a level III vocational certificate, although they also permit the access to higher education. Any of the secondary courses, vocational courses, apprenticeship courses (level III), recurrent courses and others (artistic and those of technological schools) share a three-dimensional structure (although the importance of each dimension could vary according to the specific course): a) general / socio-cultural; b) specific / scientific; c) technical / technological / practical / vocational. The Portuguese educational/vocational system is open. This means that once any student finishes his/her basic studies successfully he/she can choose, freely, any kind of course in any training domain/area. Any secondary course completed successfully allows the student apply to any course of higher education, independently of the training domain the student chose in the secondary level of education.

In Portugal initial vocational education and training can be divided into two main modalities according to the Ministry responsible for the training:

a) Initial vocational education and training in the education system (under the regulation of the Ministry of Education): - The technological secondary courses are work-oriented and confer qualification for specific jobs, which correspond to the U. E. level III of vocational qualifications. There are eleven technological courses in the domain of natural sciences, arts, social-economic sciences and humanities; - The vocational schools courses are a special modality of education that has a primary goal: the development of youngsters’ vocational training. In this type of course the students spend most of their time in practical, technological, technical and artistic training, which allows the development of specific skills indispensable to an occupation. The vocational courses are drawn to give answers to both local and regional labour market needs. These courses function under the regulation of the Ministry of Education, although under the direct initiative and responsibility of civil society institutions, such as municipalities, enterprises, trade unions, etc. The vocational courses are available in the third cycle of basic education (level II) – only a few - and in the secondary education (level III). - The technical recurrent courses. In the secondary education, the recurrent studies branches into two different types of courses: the general courses and the technical courses. The latter are work-oriented, vocationally oriented to confer a level III vocational certificate; - The courses of initial qualification can be promoted by schools lecturing the third cycle of mandatory education. If it is necessary, schools can establish protocols with other institutions such as municipalities, enterprises or vocational training centres. These courses are open to a) youngsters who have a 9th grade diploma, without any vocational qualification, and who do not intend to continue their studies; and b) youngsters who, having reached fifteen years of age and attended the 9th grade, did not achieve the basic education certificate.

b) Initial vocational education and training in the labour market (under the regulation of the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity through the Institute of Employment and Vocational Training): - Apprenticeship system. The apprenticeship courses are part of an initial vocational training system alternating between the school and the workplace, addressing mainly youngsters aged between fifteen and twenty five years who are not included in the mandatory school system. The training process alternates between the professional/vocational (where the socio-cultural, scientific-technological and the practice training in training context takes place) and the workplace (where the practice training in work context takes place).

Higher Education

Higher education in Portugal is divided into two subsystems: university education and non-university higher education (polytechnical education), and it is provided in autonomous public universities, private universities, polytechnic institutions, higher education schools and private higher education institutions of other types. In addition, there is a public university institution which offers courses in Management, Anthropology, Sociology, History, Economics and Psychology; - the ISCTE - Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa, in Lisbon. The Portuguese Catholic University was instituted by decree of the Holy See and is recognized by the State of Portugal. Private higher education institutions cannot operate if they are not recognized by the Ministry of Education. Access is regulated by the same procedures as those for state higher education institutions. The two systems of higher education (university and polytechnic) are linked and it is possible to transfer from one to the other by extraordinary competition. It is also possible to transfer from a public institution to a private one and vice-versa.

In Portugal, going to the university before the carnation revolution was almost exclusive for the students from wealthy and influent families. Today the higher education, which includes non-university institutions, is generalized but very heterogeneous, with different tonalities and subsystems. Overcrowded classrooms, obsolete curricula, disloyal competition by some of the other subsystems, frequent rules changing in the sector and increasingly higher fees charged inside the public higher education system are big problems for many students.

University vs. Non-University

For many centuries there was only one university, the University of Coimbra founded in 1290 in Lisbon and transferred between Coimbra and Lisbon several times. The University of Évora was an old university which operated between 1559 and 1759, but it was shut down during the Marquis of Pombal government, because it was runned by Jesuits. This university is working again since 1973 as a state-runned university. With a largely illiterate population, that two universities and later a few colleges in Lisbon and Porto were such good enough for a such small country like Portugal of the 16th-19th centuries. Any university was created until the advent of the Republic, when two new universities were created in 1911: the University of Porto and the University of Lisbon. In 1930, a new technical university in Lisbon was created, the Technical University of Lisbon. In 1973 a new wave of state-runned universities opened in Lisbon - the New University of Lisbon, Braga - the Minho University and Évora - the University of Évora. After 1974, the revolution's year, new universities were created in Vila Real - the Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Aveiro - the Universidade de Aveiro, Covilhã - the Universidade da Beira Interior, Faro - University of the Algarve, Madeira - the University of Madeira, and the Azores - Universidade dos Açores. Some time later, many private universities and institutes started to open. Most had a poor reputation and were known for making it easy for students to enter and also to get high grades. For other side, the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, a private university at Lisbon and Porto, is very prestigious, but this university has a different status, being runned by the Catholic Church.

There are also many state-runned polytechnic institutes (Institutos Politécnicos) in Barcelos, Beja, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Guarda, Leiria, Lisbon, Portalegre, Porto, Santarém, Setúbal, Tomar, Viseu and Viana do Castelo, which congregate several schools. The fast expansion of the polytechnic institutes, whose entrance and teaching requirements are usually less demanding than the universities criteria, was an administrative attempt to reduce the elevated rate of pre-higher education abandon and to increase the number of (under)graduates per 1 million inhabitants in Portugal which were dramatically below the European average. These institutes were created in the 1970s and 1980s to produce skilled technicians in specific areas, instead of specialists, researchers and scientists that were already produced inside the Portuguese universities. Some of Coimbra, Lisbon, and Porto colleges were congregated to create part of these new institutions in those cities. More polytechnic institutes were created in different regions of the country, often with a very low quality, where the entrance and the student’s evaluation were eased. The polytechnic institutes used to offer only a three year course, awarding a bacharelato degree instead of a university licenciatura degree which is five to six years. By a government decree of the late 1990s the polytechnics offer now a licenciatura bietápica which are two bachelor degrees (a first of 3 and a second of 2 years). The universities offer a single lincenciatura degree of 4 or 5 years. This is to be changed again in a new system of 3 or 4 years of bachelor and an additional 1 or 2 years will grant a Masters degree in accordance with the Bologna process.

The Doctor degree is, as it has always been, exclusively conferred by a university. Many graduate and undergraduate courses such as Medicine, Law, Economics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics or Mathematics are traditionally and exclusively offered by universities because they need teaching requirements, competencies and infrastructures that the other institutions don't have.

With the Bologna process on the first decade of the 21st century some changes are made, but each institution continue to be a singular case based on its own history, organization, competence, reputation, responsibility and tradition.

Degree Significance

Bacharel (Bachelor): awarded after 3 years, the first stage in a polytechnic higher education program.

Licenciado (Licentiate): four years of polytechnic education including the bacharel years or a four-to-five-year university degree.

Mestre (Master): The Mestre is an advanced degree in a specific scientific field, indicating capacity for conducting practical research. Courses usually last for 4 semesters and include lectures and the preparation and discussion of an original dissertation. It is only open to those who have obtained 14 out of 20 in the Licenciatura course. Those who have obtained a mark below 14 may also be eligible for a Mestrado course after analysis of the curriculum by the university.

Doutor (Doctor): The Doutor is conferred by universities to those who have passed the Doctorate examinations and have defended a thesis. There is no fixed period to prepare for the Doctorate examinations. Candidates must hold the degree of Mestre or the Licenciado degree (or a legally equivalent qualification) with a final mark of at least 16 out of 20 and have competences and merit that are recognized by the university.

Agregação (Aggregation): This is the highest qualification reserved to holders of the Doutor degree. It requires the capacity to undertake high level research and special pedagogical competence in a specific field. It is awarded after passing specific examinations.

Admission

Admission to higher education level studies requires the secondary school credential, Diploma de Ensino Secudário, wich are the first twelve study years and students must have studied the subjects for which they are entering. Students must sit for one or more entrance exams, Concurso nacional for public institutions or Concurso local for private institutions. In addition to passing entrance exams, students must fulfill particular prerequisites for the chosen course. Enrollment is limited; each year the institution establishes the number of places available. At the universities this is called the numerus clausus. For the public institutions the exam scores count for the final evaluation, which includes the secondary school average marks. Then the students have to choose six institutions/courses they prefer to attend, in preferential order. The ones, who reach the marks needed to attend the desired institution/course, given the attributed vacant, will be admitted. This means that the students could not be admitted at its first or second choice, but be admitted at the third or even sixth choice. Those entering polytechnics should have some previous vocational training and preference will be given to applicants from the catchment area of the institution concerned.

For instance, Medicine is traditionally and effectively one of the most wanted courses in Portugal, and because of that, one of the most demanding in terms of exams and prerequisites. Normally a student who wants to attend the Medicine Faculty at one of the seven Portuguese public universities which exclusively offer this graduation course, have to get very high grades in the Chemistry and Biology exams and have to have done an almost-brilliant secondary school course.

For the other side, there are many courses at the polytechnic institutes, private universities and also in a few public university departments, where the entrance requirements are sharply below the average.

The Most Prestigious

The biggest, most prestigious and most respected institutions of higher education in Portugal are indubitably the University of Coimbra; the University of Lisbon; the New University of Lisbon; the Technical University of Lisbon and the University of Porto. These five public universities are far beyond any other higher education institution in Portugal in aspects such as:

Although generally smaller and younger, the other public universities are regional powerhouses in some studying/teaching areas. They have also contributed to the development of the local populations and to the improvement of their quality of life. This group of universities englobe almost all the other state-runned portuguese universities founded after 1970. The University of Aveiro; Minho University and Universidade da Beira Interior have been frequently referred as the "new generation" of the Portuguese universities (see list of universities in Portugal).

Teacher Education

Training of pre-primary and primary/basic school teachers

Teachers of basic education attend 4-year courses in Escolas Superiores de Educação or at the universities to obtain a Licenciado degree.

Training of secondary school teachers

Teachers of secondary education must hold a Licenciado degree and follow courses that last for between 4 and 6 years. Studies are sanctioned by a Licenciado em Ensino or a Licenciatura - Ramo de Formação Educacional, according to the issuing institution. Educators and basic and secondary education teachers, with practice in regular or special education, may obtain a qualification to teach in specialized education. Continuous training for teachers is offered in Centros de Formação Continua.

Training of higher education teachers

Teachers at this level receive no formal professional training, but minimum qualifications are laid down for each category.

University: assistente estagiário (Licenciado); assistente (Mestre); professor auxiliar (Doutor); professor associado (Doutor and 5 years' service); professor catedrático (Agregação and 3 years' service).

Polytechnics: assistente (Licenciado); professor adjunto (Mestre or DESE); professor coordenador (Doutor and 3-years' service).

Non-Traditional Studies

At present, distance higher education is provided by the Universidade Aberta (Open University).

Private vs. Public

Private Basic and Secondary schools and also private Higher Education institutions do exist in Portugal and are sometimes elite institutions (like the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon and Porto, or a few private secondary schools mainly in the biggest cities), but are typically religious or smaller specialty institutions.

The top Portuguese companies, the main employers and the people in general are of the same opinion that the existence of private education institutions, where accessibility is based primarily on one's ability to pay, is not as fair as the public system and could gloom the meritocracy concept, leading to easier entrance criteria and lower teaching standards. Many private institutions are known for making it easy for students to enter and also to get high grades - as long as they pay. Others claim that the private systems could prevent a significant portion of Portugal's population from being able to attend these schools that is also unfair.

On the other side there are some people who prefer to attend the private institutions because they don’t trust in the public educational infrastructure they have near they residential area. This could be related with overcrowded classes, bad reputation, criminality levels, incidence of ethnic minorities generally considered problematic, lack of quality teaching staff or bad infrastructures in that specific public school/institution.

See also

External links

See also: Education in Portugal, 21st century, Aveiro, Azores, Bachelor, Barcelos, Beja, Biology, Bologna process, Braga