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EACEA National Policies Platform:Eurydice
Ongoing reforms and policy developments
Portugal

Portugal

13.Ongoing reforms and policy developments

Last update: 20 August 2025
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Structure of the chapter

This chapter provides a thematic and chronological overview of national reforms and policy developments in the education sector since 2023. The web pages that follow group reforms in the following broad thematic areas:

Inside each thematic area, reforms are organised chronologically. The most recent reforms are described first.

Government’s key objectives for education

The 25th Constitutional Government took office on 5th June 2025, after having established its structure and operations via the approval of the Government Organic Law (Decree-Law No 87-A/2025, 25 July). The 25th Constitutional Government’s programme (June 2025) is structured around two complementary components: a Transformative Agenda, which identifies the most pressing reforms that are to be carried out during the term of office 2025-2029; and a sectoral programme, that details the specific policies and measures scheduled to be implemented in each area of government.

The introduction of the previous Constitutional Government programme document highlights the need for a global and long-term vision regarding public education policies. Such measures should take into account every child and young person’s entire journey, from nursery school to the highest levels of qualifications. This view is reflected in the inclusion of all education levels in a single government department, the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI). Maintaining the single government portfolio for Education, Science and Innovation, the current government has initiated an organic reorganisation of the MECi services.

Regarding both areas of pre-school, primary and secondary education and higher education, science and innovation, the present Government has established the following objectives in the field of education:

1. Pre-school, primary and secondary education

1.1 Goals

  • Reinstate Portuguese students to above-average OECD performance levels in PISA 2029 assessments;
  • Universalise access to pre-school education from the age of 3;
  • Ensure the effective integration of foreign students into public schools;
  • Attract and train new teachers and improve their placement process in schools so that, by 2029, there are no more situations where students don’t have classes;
  • Raise standards without leaving any student behind: apply ModA tests in the 4th and 6th years of schooling, monitor learning and provide aggregated and disaggregated results, supporting students at risk of school failure;
  • Adopt effective measures to ban smartphones in the 1st and 2nd cycles of basic education (ISCED 1);
  • Implement strong information systems that generate accurate information, simplify administrative procedures and ensure the transparency of processes.

1.2 Measures

  • Modernise the education system and place trust in public schools: a new model of school autonomy and management, improvement of the system for transferring power to local authorities and assigning planning responsibilities to CCDRs in defining the school network, vocational education provision and infrastructure investments; create an integrated information system platform for all MECI services.
  • Value teachers through concrete measures, including the conclusion of the revision of the Teaching Career Statute.
  • Start early: education from 0 to 6 years of age, by integrating the 0 to 3 age group into the education system supervised by the MECI and ensuring universal and free access to pre-school education from the age of 3 in 2025/2026 school year.
  • Improve learning: a demanding and flexible curriculum for uncertain contexts, including the revision of “Essential Learning” documents, teaching guidelines and the curriculum matrix; review recommendations and rules for smartphone use; restructure primary education cycles, integrating the 1st and 2nd cycles; updating funding and reviewing the regulations governing Curricular Enrichment Activities (AEC); strengthening experimental sciences teaching and literacy teaching, particularly financial and digital literacy; redefining the scientific and humanistic pathways in secondary education; reformulating the ICT subject; redesigning the Citizenship and Development subject.
  • Inclusive education for all: evaluating and updating the Legal Framework for Inclusive Education and reformulating the education model for the adult population.
  • Combat social inequalities by strengthening existing instruments.
  • Diversity and freedom to learn: promote vocational guidance practices from the early years of schooling; strengthen the network of specialised arts schools for music, dance and theatre; implement a programme to raise awareness for the value of vocational education; update partnerships with private and cooperative education; optimise the vocational education network, aligning it with regional development strategies and the needs of the business community.

2. Higher Education, Science and Innovation

2.1 Goals

  • Increase the percentage of adults aged 25-34 with a higher education degree, which should exceed 50% by 2030;
  • The percentage of students and recent graduates benefiting from exposure to work-based learning should reach 65% by 2030;
  • Consolidate and strengthen the higher education network;
  • Adjust the value of social action grants to the costs of attending higher education;
  • Increase the progressivity of social action grants for higher education students;
  • Within the legislative term, in conjunction with the private sector, double the number of beds available in student residences;
  • By 2030, bring the value of investment (public and private) in Science and Innovation closer to 3% of GDP.

2.2. Measures

  • Access and quality in higher education: generalise access to higher education by diversifying the base for attracting candidates and social coverage; make the educational offer more flexible; promote quality and adaptation to new challenges; and strengthen the internationalisation of higher education.
  • Legislative framework, human resources, funding and reduction of bureaucracy in higher education and science, including the completion of the review of key legislative instruments for higher education.
  • Students: social action, accommodation, success and well-being.
  • Science and innovation as instruments of development: ensuring the sustainability and quality of the scientific and technological system, strengthening its contribution to national development, promoting its internationalisation and reinforcing the conditions for greater impact by all researchers.

The 25th Constitutional Government’s programme is geared towards the  2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the United Nations , as well as Portugal 2030 Strategy.  

Structural measures already set in motion:

Other strategic documents: