Overview

Last update: 18 March 2026

Key features of the education system

Governance

Education in Portugal is organised according to the democratic principles established by the Constitution of the Republic (1976), particularly the freedom to teach and learn (Art. No 43), as well as citizens’ rights and duties of the state in this area (Art. No 73-77). These same principles were the foundation of the Education Act (1986), which defines educational objectives, structures and modes of organisation.

Pre-primary education, basic, upper secondary and higher education, as well as out-of-school education, are the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI). As such, it is responsible for defining, coordinating, implementing and assessing national policy with regard to the education system, as well as articulating education policy with qualification and vocational training policies.

MECI is also responsible for designing and formulating policy in the areas of science, higher education and science- and technology-based innovation, as well as forms of organisation, funding, implementation and assessment.

Both vocational education and training, as well as adult education and training are the joint responsibility of the MECI and the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security (Ministério do Trabalho, Solidariedade e Segurança Social – MTSSS). The duties of these ministries are undertaken by departments that are part of direct state administration, indirect state administration bodies, advisory bodies, and other organisations and entities within state-owned enterprises.

The public school network is organised into school clusters and non-clustered schools, which have with their own administration and management bodies. They are made up of pre-school establishments, plus one or more teaching levels and cycles that share a common pedagogical project.

The MECI is responsible for managing the network of pre-school, primary and secondary schools. However, school clusters and non-clustered schools enjoy a degree of autonomy, particularly in terms of teaching, the curriculum, and the management of timetables and non-teaching staff. Following the strengthening of school clusters’ autonomy in curriculum management (Decree-Law No 55/2018, 6 July) and the decentralisation of powers that assigned responsibilities to local authorities (Decree-Law No 21/2019, 30 January), a significant change based on two central pillars was introduced more recently in2025, a significant change based on two central pillars:
(i) the reform of the MECI, which notably includes the creation of the Agency for the Management of the (AGSE, I. P.) under Decree-Law No. 99/2025 of 28 August, with a greater concentration of management of the education system (network, resources, processes); and
(ii) the transfer of powers to the Regional Coordination and Development Committees (CCDRs), particularly regarding the provision of educational services, including vocational education, in coordination with local authorities and the AGSE/MECI (Decree-Law 21/2019, 30 January).
The Portuguese education system comprises three types of educational provision: state education, private education and cooperative/solidarity-based education.

Higher education institutions enjoy statutory, scientific, pedagogical, cultural, administrative, financial, patrimonial and disciplinary autonomy (Law No 62/2007, 10 September).

In the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira, education administration is the responsibility of the regional governments, via the Regional Directorate of Education and the Regional Secretariat of Education, which adapt national education policy to a regional plan and to the human, material and financial resources available.

Organisation and structures

According to the Education Act, approved by Law No. 46/86, 14 October, the Portuguese education system comprises pre-school education, school education and extra-school education and has three levels: pre-school education, basic education and upper secondary education.

It begins with pre-school education, with an optional attendance cycle from 3 to 6 years of age, and continues with basic education, which comprises three sequential cycles:

1) the 1st cycle of 4 years and the start of compulsory schooling (expected age group 6 - 9 years old)

2) the 2nd cycle of 2 years (expected age group 10 - 11 years old)

3) the 3rd cycle lasting 3 years (expected age group 12 – 14 years old).

Basic education has the same track for all students. However, in some schools there is artistic education, which adds complementary training in an artistic area to the general curriculum (specialised artistic courses).

Upper secondary education involves a cycle of three years of schooling [grades 10, 11 and 12, expected age group 15 - 18 years old] and aims to provide students with diversified training and learning, according to their interests. This is done with a view to pursuing further studies or entering the labour market. The courses are the following:

1) Science-humanities courses

2) Vocational courses

3) Specialised artistic courses

4) Own-school-curriculum (scientific-technological courses)

Compulsory education lasts 12 years, between the age of six and 18 or until the conclusion of upper secondary education (ISCED 3). Attendance at public pre-school, primary and secondary schools is free of charge, and the State guarantees a place for all pupils within the compulsory education system. Universal provision of pre-school education is currently available for 5-year-olds and 4-year-olds, and measures are being taken to expand provision to ensure universal access from the age of 3

Higher education is structured around three cycles of study, leading to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. In 2014, a non-degree-awarding higher education programme was established, known as the Short-cycle higher education programmes (CTeSP), which corresponds to the short-cycle linked to the first cycle as set out in the Qualifications Framework for the European Higher Education Area..

The National System of Qualifications (Sistema Nacional de Qualificações - SNQ) brings together structures, tools and delivery methods within vocational education and training (VET) that aim to achieve a sustained increase in the population’s qualification levels, to ensure coherence between education and training pathways, and to promote lifelong learning, in line with the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). In this context, it has contributed to the widespread adoption of upper secondary education as the minimum qualification, notably through the expansion of VET (vocational education and training) provision and the system for the recognition, validation and certification of skills acquired in informal and non-formal contexts. In the field of adult education, the SNQ has contributed to raising educational and qualification levels, notably through the network of Qualifica Centres.

The includes structures, mechanisms and types of vocational education and training (Ensino e Formação Profissional - EFP) that, in articulation with the European Qualifications Framework (Quadro Europeu de Qualificações - QEQ), promotes upper secondary level as a minimum qualification for the population through greater EFP provision or the recognition, validation and certification of formal, informal and non-formal learning competences. In the case of adults, it aims to extend educational and qualification levels via the 'Qualifica' Centre network.

Evaluation in the Portuguese educational system is both formative and summative, as well as internal and external.

Important challenges

In recent decades, Portugal has made great efforts to improve the population’s level of qualifications, resulting in substantial progress in education:

providing universal access
reducing the number of school dropouts
achieving the goals set by the EU and
significantly improving Portuguese students’ performance in international comparative tests.

That said, the country continues to face relevant challenges. coming close to the targets set by the EU for 2030, and seeking to promote educational success.
However, the country faces some significant challenges.
Pupil learning, when measured by large-scale international studies such as TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) and PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), showed consistent improvements at the start of the 21st century. In recent years, international evidence has accumulated of a decline in Portuguese pupils’ learning, even before the pandemic. The upward trend recorded up to 2015 had already been reversed in PISA 2018, and in 2022, the results are the least positive since 2006. The decline in performance occurred among pupils from all socio-economic backgrounds. In 2022, 20% of Portuguese students performed poorly in all assessed domains and 41% in at least one of the domains.

Another major challenge relates to demographics, an ageing population and low birth rates, coupled with substantial migration flows, as is the case in all other European Union countries. These challenges result from the need to design and develop public policies to address demographic decline and the integration of immigrant children and young people, ensuring that all foreign pupils who do not speak Portuguese fluently can learn the language by attending the Portuguese as a Non-Native Language (PLNM) course.

Between 2018-2019 and 2023-2024, the number of foreign students rose by 158 %, from 55,390 to 142,741, corresponding to 16.4 % of the total number of students in public education in the 2023-2024 school year. Around half of these foreign pupils have entered the Portuguese education system in the last two school years. There are over 180 nationalities, with around 28% of these students being from outside the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP). The integration of these students is crucial to their social and human development, the success of immigration policies, and for the country's development and social cohesion. In 2024, to meet these challenges, Portugal introduced a set of measures to support the inclusion and learning of foreign students, particularly for those who don’t speak Portuguese.

In addition to this, and as in other European Union countries, there is a shortage of teachers, which results in many students without teachers in at least one subject for very long periods of time andin serious consequences for their learning and their achievements at school. Those most affected by such situations are from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, jeopardising equal opportunities to access quality education and the chances of successful academic pursuits. To this end, a set of conunctural and structural measures is being implemented aiming at significantly reducing the number of students without classes by reducing the shortage of teaching staff.

To address this challenge, MECI has implemented exceptional and temporary measures, focusing on attracting and retaining teachers, as well as supporting mobility and professional development. Among these, the most effective measures focus particularly on the understaffed Pedagogical Areas (teaching zone staff - QZP) in the regions of Lisboa, the Alentejo and the Algarve. These areas face the greatest structural difficulties in placing teachers.
As part of the exceptional measures to tackle the shortage of teachers, the Government approved Decree-Laws 57-A/2024, of 13 September, and 108/2025, of 19 September, which establish the rules governing the extraordinary external applications for the selection and recruitment of teaching staff and amend the rules on travel support for teachers.
In the field of initial teacher training, the MECI has signed the first programme contracts with 10 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), five of which are in the Lisbon, Setúbal and Algarve regions, whilst the remaining five are HEIs with the largest increase in places on Bachelor’s degree courses in Basic Education for the 2025/2026 academic year. These programme contracts cover 42 courses, with a total of 9,677 places until 2029/2030. Furthermore, the 25th Constitutional Government resumed negotiations with trade unions to revise the Teaching Career Statute (ECD), with the relevant negotiation protocol having been signed on 19 November 2025 by 10 of the 12 trade union organisations. With the revision of the ECD, the Government aims to make the teaching profession more attractive, stable, transparent and equitable. In this context, issues relating to recruitment, training, working conditions, career structure and performance appraisal will be addressed.

Like other societies, new thinking is emerging that raises ethical, pedagogical, technological and educational questions about the development of new ways of teaching and learning using digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI). AI has enormous potential to improve the ways children and young people learn and how teachers teach and assess, as long as it is used in a conscious and evidence-based manner.

In the field of education, the government’s mission is to promote universal access and equal opportunities to quality education for all pupils throughout the country. In recent years, bucking the trend of demographic decline and a fall in the number of pupils enrolled in the education system, pupil numbers have risen again, and this increase is accompanied by greater cultural and linguistic diversity in pupils’ backgrounds and profiles. This change, which is unquestionably positive for the country, poses new challenges for the education system, particularly in terms of resources and strategies to ensure its mission is achieved.

Access the table below for an overview of the number of students in public and private institutions, by cycle of studies, in school years 2020/2021 and 2023/2024.

Teaching profession

There is only one professional career for teachers of all non-higher education levels (from pre-school to upper secondary education), which requires a second-cycle degree (ISCED 7 - Master).

The Headteacher is responsible for the administration and management of the school/school cluster: educational, administrative, financial, property and external relations matters. They represent the school/school cluster and exercise hierarchical authority over teaching and non-teaching staff. In addition, there is the role of school coordinator or pre-school establishment coordinator, who is a teacher to whom the headteacher delegates local coordination duties within a specific building or establishment within a large school cluster.

Stages of the education system

The Portuguese education system is divided in pre-school education (from the age of three until the start of basic education), basic education (six to 14/15 years old) and upper secondary education (15 to 18 years old). Measures are being taken to include creches in the education system.

Pre-school education (ISCED 0)

Pre-school education covers children from three years old up to the age of compulsory schooling (six years old). Attending pre-school education is optional, recognising the primacy of families’ role in children’s education, and is universal for children from the year they celebrate their third birthday. The network of establishments has been expanding as part of a policy of providing widespread availability.

Provision for children under three years old, with a special focus on childcare (CITE 010) (crèche), is under technical supervision of the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security (MTSSS).

Basic education (ISCED 1 and 2)

Basic education is universal, compulsory, free and lasts nine years. It is divided into three sequential cycles; each should complete and build upon the previous one from a global perspective:

the first cycle (CITE 1) corresponds to the first four years of schooling (grades one to four).
the second cycle (CITE 1) corresponds to the next two years (grades five and six).
the third cycle (CITE 2) lasts for three years and corresponds to lower secondary education (grades seven to nine).

The guiding principles of curriculum organisation and management aim to ensure a common general background education for all citizens, via the acquisition of fundamental knowledge and skills that allow further study.

Upper secondary education (ISCED 3)

Upper secondary education lasts for three years and corresponds to grades 10, 11 and 12 of upper secondary education. Upper secondary education aims to provide students with diverse training and learning, with a view to pursuing further studies and/or entering the labour market. Educational and training programmes are geared towards further study or entry into the labour market, as is the case with dual certification programmes (school and vocational), which combine general, technical and work-based training. The permeability between courses predominantly geared towards working life and those predominantly geared towards further study is ensured at the start of the cycle, as is the opportunity to access higher education.

Post-secondary non-higher education (ISCED 4)

Post-secondary non-tertiary education provision can lead to an NQF level 5 qualification and involves high-level technical training, geared towards integration in the job market, as well as the continuation of higher education studies. It usually lasts a year to a year and a half and is designed for young people over 18, who have concluded the 12 years of compulsory school. This level can be obtained the following ways: a) specialised technological courses (STC); b) apprenticeship + courses; c) certified modular training (CMT); d) a process of recognition, validation and certification of competences (RVCC).

Higher education (ISCED 5 – 8)

Higher education is structured according to the principles of the Bologna Process to ensure solid scientific and cultural preparation, plus technical training that qualifies students for professional and cultural life, while developing their capability to innovate and apply critical analysis. Portuguese higher education is a binary system that includes the university and polytechnic systems.

In higher education, there is a non-degree-awarding higher education programme known as the Higher Professional Technical Course (CTeSP), which corresponds to the short-cycle higher education programme (ISCED 5). The academic degrees awarded are Bachelor’s (ISCED 5), Master’s (ISCED 6) and Doctorate (ISCED 7).

Adult education and training

There are various modes of adult education and training with specific aims and target groups, encompassing a system of recognition, validation and certification of skills (RVCC) acquired throughout life. The key competences reference frameworks that support the academic and professional RVCC processes are part of the National Qualifications Catalogue.

Most of the qualification programmes for adults fall within the National Qualifications Framework and are delivered through a national network of centres specialising in adult education and training, known as ‘Qualifica Centres’, which cover a wide geographical area.
These centres provide information, guidance and referral services for adults, liaising with training providers overseen by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Innovation (MECI) and the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security (MTSSS). These programmes lead to an academic, vocational or dual qualification, which combines academic and vocational elements.

Recurrent education is designed for young people and adults who did not complete primary or secondary education at the expected age, offering study programmes based on the general education curriculum. Successful completion leads to a qualification equivalent to that awarded in general education, enabling students to attain the corresponding level of education.
For information on recently adopted or planned reforms and policy measures, please see the Chapter 13 - Ongoing Reforms and Policy Developments.

Structure of the national education system

School education is organised into a national network comprising the public and private sectors; the former includes schools within school clusters – organisational units comprising schools providing pre-school, primary and secondary education – whilst the latter includes both profit-making (private and cooperative) and non-profit-making institutions.

Please refer to the Eurydice Data and Visuals for a display of the Structure of the National Education System.

Useful links

Unidade Portuguesa da Rede Eurydice - Portuguese unit of Eurydice network

Eurydice

Portugal