OECD Reviews of School Resources: Portugal 2018
This country review offers an independent analysis of major issues facing the use of school resources in Portugal from an international perspective. It provides a description of national policies, an analysis of strengths and challenges and options for possible future approaches. The analysis focuses on the process of decentralisation of school governance, the integration of local, national and international funding streams in educational financing, and the development of the teaching profession. The report covers primary and secondary school education.
The distribution and development of human resources in Portugal
This chapter reviews staffing levels, teacher and school leader initial training, the distribution of teachers, their working conditions and opportunities for educator growth and development over the course of their careers in the Portuguese school system. Portuguese teachers are experienced, have solid instructional practices and benefit from formal opportunities to exert leadership in their schools. However, despite relatively generous compensation packages, Portuguese teachers do not feel valued in society. Their pre-service training is of insufficient quality in practical classroom skills and they have few formalised opportunities to develop their skills once in their positions. Furthermore, the process for assignment of teachers to schools creates significant instability in the system and hinders early career teachers’ ability to systematically develop their skills to be suited to the specific contexts in which they work. The instability created by the teacher assignment process and the weak match between schools’ needs and teachers’ interests and skills affect schools serving under-resourced communities most, raising significant equity concerns. The chapter concludes with a number of policy recommendations to address these challenges.