Education Policies

Abstract

AbstractOver the last 45 years, Portugal has witnessed a huge expansion of enrolment rates in secondary and higher education. In addition, the country’s participation in international assessments like PISA since 2000 shows an improvement in Portuguese results. Until 2015, there was a trend to extend external evaluation to lower levels of education (in addition to secondary education), which contributed to stronger school accountability, namely through the publication of school rankings. In 2015, some national exams were eliminated, and the future of external evaluation in Portugal is uncertain. Teachers’ training, evaluation, and remuneration have probably been the main factors of dispute in the political arena regarding the educational system. The renewal of the teaching staff that will be required in the next decade is one of the major challenges facing the educational system and will depend greatly on the redefinition of these policies.