The Portuguese Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation presented its priorities for education and launched the 'Learning More Now' Plan (24|25) as part of a broader set of measures for schools to recover from underachievement and to improve results for inclusion.

The ‘Learning More Now’ Plan is being developed in the current 2024-2025 school year and intends to give schools better instruments to support students in terms of inclusion and academic success. The plan has two main axes: (1) improving student learning, which has been a priority from before the pandemic in 2020 and (2) the integration and inclusion of migrant students because this group has exponentially grown in the past years.

The first axis of this plan – ‘Improving Student Learning’ – focuses on learning, student support and process improvement, with measures as diverse as:

• strengthening pedagogical practices at the earliest levels of education (0-3 year-olds);
• early interventions to prevent year retention and early school dropout;
• reading skills assessment in Year 2;
• bringing retired teachers back to schools as tutors to mentor early career teachers and provide additional support for students with significant learning difficulties;
• mediating in quality self-study;
• providing evidence-based guidance and launching awareness campaigns on smartphone use in schools;
• strengthening assessment literacy in leaderships, and defining learning descriptors in the curriculum review; and
• improving data and monitoring systems to promptly identify children at risk of or experiencing school dropout.
   

Second, Portugal has experienced a significant increase in its migrant student population. Rising from around 50,000 to 140,000 by 2024, it has nearly tripled in less than five years. About 25% of students in this group do not speak Portuguese, posing new challenges for schools that are often unprepared for this new reality.

To address these issues, the second axis of the Plan – ‘Integrating Migrant Students’ – promotes ‘Inclusion and Success of migrant students’ with measures such as:

• improving inclusion of migrant students who don’t know the Portuguese language, assigning linguistic and cultural mediators to schools to guide their integration and that of their families;
• updating the Portuguese Nonnative Language (PLNM) subject (improving diagnostic tools, reviewing retention and assessment methods and onboarding content) and establishing a level 0 of language proficiency, aimed at learners unfamiliar with the Portuguese language or alphabet;
• reducing bureaucracy for recognition of studies; and
• extending Portuguese language learning opportunities to parents, facilitating the integration of entire families into the educational system and broader society.
   

For further information, consult the infographics of the 'Learning More Now' Plan (24|25): https://www.portugal.gov.pt/download-ficheiros/ficheiro.aspx?v=%3d%3dBQAAAB%2bLCAAAAAAABAAzNDE2MgAAyTauyAUAAAA%3d 

Source: Eurydice Unit Portugal