Structure of the education system

Law 85/2009, 27 August, as currently worded, establishes the framework for compulsory education for children and young people of school age. Children and young people aged between 6 and 18 years old are considered to be of school age.
Compulsory schooling entails, for the parent or guardian, the duty to enrol their child in state, private or cooperative schools, or in educational and/or training institutions recognised by the competent authorities, and imposes on the pupil the duty to attend. 
Compulsory schooling ceases:
a)    Upon obtaining a secondary education qualification; or
b)    Regardless of whether a qualification has been obtained at any stage or level of education, at the point in the school year when the pupil turns 18.

The Portuguese education system is divided into different levels of education and teaching. It begins with pre-school education, an optional cycle for children from three to six years old, followed by basic education, which comprises three sequential cycles:

• the first cycle of four years (expected attendance ages: from 6 to 9 years old), corresponding to ISCED1;
• the second cycle of two years (expected attendance ages: from 10 to 11 years old), corresponding to ISCED1;
• the third cycle of three years (expected attendance ages: from 12 to 14 years old), corresponding to ISCED 2 (lower secondary education).

Basic education includes the following courses: 

• General education courses
• Specialised artistic courses
• Education and training courses
• Education and training courses in the area of music
• Integrated education and training programme

Upper secondary education is a three-year cycle (expected attendance ages: from 15 to 17 years old) (corresponding to ISCED 3) and includes five types of courses:

• science-humanities courses
• vocational courses
• specialised artistic courses
• own-school-curriculum courses
• apprenticeship courses

ISCED 4 corresponds to post-secondary non-higher education and includes the Specialised technological courses (CET) and Apprenticeship courses (cursos de Aprendizagem+).

Higher education (ISCED 5-8) is structured according to the principles of the Bologna Process and is designed for students who have successfully completed a upper secondary education course or obtained a legally equivalent qualification.

ISCED 5 corresponds to short cycle higher education programmes with vocational and technical higher education courses (CTeSP).

ISCED 6 comprises the Licenciatura (or equivalent) programmes, and ISCED 7 the Master programmes (or equivalent). Lastly, ISCED 8 corresponds to a doctoral programme (or equivalent).

For further information on the structure of the Portuguese education system and or comparative analysis, please consult the publications The Structure of the European Education Systems  e Compulsory Education in Europe – 2023/24.

Home education

The Portuguese education system boasts different types of education schemes that are intended for families who, for reasons of professional mobility or other personal circumstances, wish to take on greater responsibility for their children’s education, choosing to teach them outside of school.

Decree-Law No 70/2021, 3 August approves the legal framework for individual tuition and home schooling and is designed for students covered by compulsory schooling who intend to learn the Portuguese curriculum (general basic education and upper secondary education science-humanities courses).

The above mentioned decree defines the rules and procedures regarding enrolment and attendance, as well as monitoring and certification of learning, considering the Exit Profile of Students Leaving Compulsory Education and referring to the curriculum documents being used for each subject, namely the essential learning for each school cycle in basic education and science-humanities courses in upper secondary education.

In home schooling and  individual tuition, the development of the curriculum is the responsibility of the person in charge of the pupil’s education, who:
i) in home schooling, is a family member of the pupil or a person living with, who develops the curriculum together with the pupil, and must hold at least a bachelor’s degree;
ii) in individual tuition, is the teacher appointed by the parent or guardian from among those who, together with the pupil, develop the curriculum, and who must be qualified to teach in accordance with current legislation.
The supervision and monitoring of the educational process to be carried out by the school of enrolment – through the tutor – takes the form of a review of the portfolio, which brings together evidence of the learning achieved and the student’s progress.
For the purposes of completing a cycle or level of education, pupils shall sit the following at their registered school, in accordance with the terms and periods defined in the legislation in force:
a) In basic education, equivalence examinations in the final years of each cycle; b) In secondary education, equivalence examinations in the final years of each subject.
The provisions set out in Decree-Law No 54/2018, 6 July, in its current version, also apply to pupils receiving home and individual education (for further information, please refer to the relevant legislation on basic education in Chapter 4).

Students being educated via home schooling or individual tuition are subject to evaluation and certification of learning, in accordance with the Exit Profile of Students Leaving Compulsory Education and the regulations in force (Decree-Law No. 55/2018, 6 July, Ordinance No. 223-A/2018, 3 August, and Ordinance No. 226-A/2018, 7 August, both in their current wording).