On the 29th of August, the Council of Ministers approved a revised National Strategy for Citizenship Education as a framework for the Citizenship and Development curricular component, published in the document Essential Learning for Citizenship and Development. The reform is underway during this school year, 2025/2026.

Citizenship and Development is a compulsory component of the Portuguese curriculum for primary and secondary education levels. It is transversal in the curriculum from years 1 to 4 and becomes a subject from years 5 to 9. In upper secondary education, schools can decide how to implement this component.

The model of Citizenship Education is based on a whole-school approach that involves students, families, and the community, and values their continuous active civic engagement in and out of school.

For the final proposal, the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) consulted the civil society and the educational community through an open, participatory, and constructive public consultation on the subject. The consultation was held between the 21st of July and the 5th of August 2025, receiving more than 10,000 contributions.

The revised National Strategy for Education for Citizenship defines 8 thematic domains to be worked on within the scope of the Citizenship and Development component in all schools:

• Human Rights

• Democracy and Political Institutions

• Sustainable Development

• Financial literacy and Entrepreneurship

• Health

• Risk and Road safety

• Pluralism and cultural diversity

• Media

The first four thematic domains must be addressed at all ISCED levels, while the others should be addressed at least 1 year per school education period.

The new strategy should be understood not as a simple revision of the previous framework but as the first formally homologated framework, creating a legal foundation designed to support the systematic coverage of all specified domains by students. It thereby provides schools with a structured basis for implementation.

By December 2025, each school must have developed its own Citizenship Education strategy, outlining the specific thematic domains for each school grade, the pedagogical approach, partnerships with community organisations, as well as the assessment methods, and the monitoring instruments for the strategy itself. The strategy will then be reflected in the approval of class plans for the Citizenship Education domain, which should take place at a class council meeting, with the participation of student representatives and parents.

Furthermore, the services of the MECI will develop training programmes to prepare teachers for the content and themes of Citizenship and Development, and will provide support and monitoring to schools to ensure the quality of the new framework’s implementation.

For further information:

• On the analysis of the results and the decision process please check pp. 28-37 of the MECI Press Conference on the 8th of July 2025.

• Full text of the document Citizenship Education: Revision post public consultation and implementation for 2025/2026.

• Link to information released on social media.