Portugal - Constitutional & Legal Foundations

National education policies, curricula, and specific programs are administered by the Ministry of Education. Principles and rules are established by decretos-leis (legal decrees). The basic educational law, Lei 46/86, dates from 14 October 1986. It has 64 articles (artigos) divided into nine chapters (capítulos). Chapters I and II define general and organizational principles; chapter III determines the support and educational complements for successful learning; chapter IV establishes the careers and the requirements for educators to teach; chapter V determines the organization of material resources; chapter VI establishes the principles and forms of educational administration; chapter VII determines the forms of development and evaluation of the system; chapter VIII defines the role of private and cooperative teaching; and chapter IX deals with the transition, implementation, and application of the law. Another law, Decreto-Lei 43/89, of 3 February 1989, is an additional document that establishes the juridical regime of school's autonomy in basic and secondary education.

Besides establishing a basic educational policy, the law 46/86 (Lei de Bases do Sistema Educativo) declares that education is universal, compulsory, and free of charge for all children until the age of nine years. Education is compulsory from the age of 6 to 15. This is still the key law.

Other laws of significance are the law that established the teaching career, Decreto-Lei 139-A/90, and the law that modifies the teaching career for elementary and secondary, Decreto-Lei 1/98.

Portugal has advanced immensely in the last few decades. From the coup in 1974 to the twenty-first century, freedom and autonomy have been granted to educational institutions and contemporary social concerns have been addressed, such as special education for disabled children, access for immigrant children to Portuguese language and culture, promotion of the Portuguese language abroad, and the use of democratic rights by teachers, students, and parents in the form of associations.

Beginning in the year 2000, the third part of PRODEP III, or Programa de Desenvolvimento Educativo para Portugal (Educational Development Program for Portugal) was put into action. This program was established with the European Commission and is designed to be in effect until 2006. The first two parts of the program, PRODEP I and II, contributed heavily to the development of the country's educational system throughout the decade of the 1990s.

The financial resources made available by PRODEP III are directed towards the various levels of instruction, such as basic, secondary, and higher education, and also to professional schools. More importantly, PRODEP III allocates funds for professional development of those individuals directly involved in the teaching process. This effort helps keep teaching professionals up-to-date with the latest technological advances.