Portugal EDUCATION
Figure 7. Structure of the Education System, 1992
Even before Portugal emerged as an independent country
in the
twelfth century, it had monastic, cathedral, and parish
schools.
The education provided by these schools was based on the
teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, rote memorization,
and a
deductive system of reasoning. The educational system
expanded
through the founding of primary and secondary schools in
larger
settlements and the establishment in 1290 of the
University of
Coimbra, one of the oldest universities in the world. The
system
was infused with the principles of authority, hierarchy,
and
discipline. Although local authorities, both municipal and
ecclesiastical, had some say about the management of local
schools, officials in Lisbon, most of them clerics,
determined
the curriculum and selected textbooks and instructors.
Education
was thus firmly under the control of the church and civil
authorities. The introduction of the Inquisition in the
1530s
served to further "purify" teaching; in 1555 the Jesuits
were
given much control over education.
A reaction against church- and Jesuit-dominated
education set
in during the eighteenth century. Reformers such as Luís
António
Verney sought to infuse Portuguese education with the
ideals of
the Enlightenment. The reforms were carried out by the
Marquês de
Pombal, prime minister from 1750 to 1777, who expelled the
Jesuits in 1759, created the basis for public and secular
primary
and secondary schools, introduced vocational training,
created
hundreds of new teaching posts, added departments of
mathematics
and natural sciences to the University of Coimbra, and
introduced
new taxes to pay for these reforms.
During the nineteenth century, educational reform was
slow
and halting. Reforms initiated in 1822, 1835, and 1844
were left
uncompleted and largely unimplemented. However, at the
beginning
of the century, the first schools for girls were opened in
Lisbon. Other new schools included the Agricultural
Institute,
polytechnical schools in Lisbon and Porto, new medical
schools in
the same two cities, and a new department of liberal arts
in
Lisbon. The educational system remained highly elitist,
however,
with illiteracy rates of over 80 percent and higher
education
reserved for a small percentage of the population. When
the First
Republic was established in 1910, efforts were made to
overcome
these problems. New universities were created in Lisbon
and
Porto, new teacher training colleges were opened, and a
separate
Ministry of Public Instruction was established. The
republican
government sought to reduce illiteracy, reintroduce (as
with
Pombal) a more secular content to education, and to bring
more
scientific and empirical methods into the curriculum. But
these
reforms largely stopped when the republic was overthrown
in 1926
and the military and Salazar came to power.
Salazar authorized the creation of a new technical
university
in Lisbon in 1930. But for the next three decades,
educational
innovation lagged, illiteracy remained high, vocational
training
was almost nonexistent, and Portugal reverted to a
situation of
quasifeudalism with the most backward economy and
education in
Western Europe. Only in the mid-1960s did the country make
public
education available for all children between the ages of
six and
twelve. The government enacted laws to equalize
educational
opportunities, but implementation lagged behind. However,
more
elementary and preparatory schools were opened, and
universities
were established in Lisbon and other regional centers.
The Revolution of 1974 and the overthrow of the Salazar
regime disrupted the education system. Students challenged
teachers, and all groups challenged administrators. For a
time
after the revolution, faculty and curriculum were highly
politicized as socialist, communist, and other groups vied
for
control of the schools and the school system. During the
1980s,
however, as Portuguese politics quieted and returned to
the
center, the education system also became less frenetic,
greater
emphasis was placed on learning, and efforts were made to
raise
the level of the country's schools closer to that of the
rest of
Europe.
The Portuguese educational system is governed by the
constitution of 1976. The constitution guarantees the
right to
create private schools. It proposes to eliminate
illiteracy, to
provide special education to those children who need it,
and to
preserve the autonomy of the universities. It guarantees
the
rights of teachers and students to take part in the
democratic
administration of the schools. In addition to the
constitution,
Portuguese education was governed by decree-laws
promulgated by
the executive branch, some of which dated from the
eighteenth
century.
As of the early 1990s, preschool education in Portugal
was
limited. Most preschools were private, but government
regulation
and involvement in preschool education was increasing.
Primary
education consisted of four years in the primary cycle and
two
years in the preparatory, or second, cycle
(see
fig. 7).
Most
primary schools were public. For many Portuguese living in
rural
areas, the primary cycle was the only schooling they
received.
The preparatory cycle (fifth and sixth grades) was
intended
mainly for children going on to secondary education.
Provision
was also made for attendance by older students who might
already
be working.
Secondary education was roughly equivalent to junior
and
senior high schools in the United States. It consisted of
three
years of a unified course curriculum, followed by a
two-year
complementary course (tenth and eleventh grades). A
twelfth-grade
course prepared students to take the university and
technical
college entrance examinations.
Portuguese primary school enrollments were close to 100
percent in the early 1990s, and immense strides had been
made in
eliminating illiteracy, especially among the young and an
estimated literacy rate of 85 percent was achieved among
those
over age fifteen in 1990. After primary school, however,
school
enrollments dropped off sharply. Only 30 percent of
children
attended secondary schools, and only 20 percent were
enrolled in
the twelfth grade.
A new vocational education program was introduced in
1983. By
the late 1980s, it was training 10,000 to 12,000 young
people a
year, about 6 to 7 percent of an age group. The program
was
conceived as a three-year course that would permit
students to
enter the work force with a set of skills after the
eleventh
grade.
Higher education included four older universities
(Lisbon,
Coimbra, Porto, and the Technical University of Lisbon),
as well
as six newer universities (Nova University in Lisbon and
others
in Minho, Aveiro, Évora, in the Algarve, and in the
Azores). The
university sector also included the private Catholic
University
and the Free University, both in Lisbon. In addition,
there were
special postsecondary institutes, schools, and academies
such as
the Institute of Applied Psychology, the social welfare
institutes of Lisbon and Porto, the engineering institutes
of
Lisbon, Porto, and Coimbra, an agricultural college at
Coimbra,
technical colleges in Santarém and in the Algarve, and a
school
of education at Viseu.
Admission to the university was a highly competitive
process,
although it could be waived if a student obtained a high
score in
the final examinations from secondary school. Only about
10
percent of college-age students attended one of the
country's
universities or postsecondary institutes, compared with 50
percent in the United States. Thus, higher education was
by no
means universal but rather was oriented toward a small
elite.
This elite, in turn, tended to dominate government, big
business,
and the professions.
The average length of study at the university level was
five
years and led to the awarding of a licentiate, although
some
schools had two-year programs and others offered a
bachelor's
degree. Doctorates were awarded in some departments after
further
advanced studies, an oral examination, and the defense of
a
thesis.
The faculties had four ranks as of the early 1990s:
full
professors, associate professors, lecturers, and
assistants. Full
professors could be appointed directly, or their
appointments
might come through competitive examinations. Full
professors
received life appointments; persons of other ranks were
under
contract. University staffs, including faculty, were part
of the
civil service and received pay and pensions like other
civil
servants.
The Portuguese educational system was highly
centralized.
Despite some efforts at decentralization in the
constitution of
1976, the Ministry of Education and Culture in Lisbon set
education policy for the entire nation. Local or regional
districts had little independent authority to tax, with
the
result that funds, curriculum, policy, and other matters
were set
at the national level.
As of the early 1990s, Portugal still had an illiteracy
rate
that ranged between 14 and 20 percent according to various
studies and estimates, although many of those who could
not read
were older people. Another serious problem was low school
enrollment after the primary cycle, especially in rural
areas,
where many children began work at an early age. As of
1987, 87.4
percent of Portuguese completed less than the upper level
of
secondary school, a rate that had improved only slightly
in
recent decades, and was much inferior to the EC average of
54
percent. Facilities and equipment at all levels were often
outdated and in short supply. Although the number of
school
teachers had increased greatly in recent years, teachers
were
poorly paid, and their overall morale was poor. Many
specialists
held that the curriculum at the secondary level needed to
be
revised to make it more revelant in preparing young people
for
their working lives. In addition to more modern
facilities, the
universities needed to increase their enrollments and
support
research more strongly.
Data as of January 1993
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