What parties offer in the field of education

After a year of protests in schools, parties heading to legislative elections on March 10 are seeking to respond to the sector’s problems and some of the demands of teachers.

From teachers’ working hours to benchmark tests and public examinations, from education funding to teacher shortages, a wide variety of proposals appear on the platforms of the parties with seats in parliament (with the exception of the PAN, which is only expected to present its program on Saturday). ) between some and almost identical between others.

Here are some significant points of the educational proposals:

Restoration of work experience and career growth

The restoration of seniority has been one of the main demands of teachers in the last two years and is now included in the programs of all parties, with the exception of the Liberal Initiative (IL).

The Socialist Party promises to negotiate recovery with the unions in stages, while the Democratic Alliance (a coalition uniting PSD, CDS-PP and PPM) presents a more concrete proposal: 20% annual recovery for six years, six months and 23 years. days until the end of the legislative session.

Chega also sets a maximum period of four years, while Livre speaks only of a “full and phased count.” Bloco de Esquerda (BE) and the CDU (a coalition between the PCP and the environmentalist party “Os Verdes”) also advocate the restoration of all seniority and the reorganization of careers, without clarifying whether the count will be immediate or gradual.

Another demand of teachers is the elimination of the vacancy of access to the 5th and 7th levels of the teaching career, and only four parties respond to this demand: Chega, BE, CDU and Livre.

Teacher shortage

Reactions to the teacher shortage are varied. The PS, on the one hand, wants to make starting a teaching career more attractive by reducing instability and the difference between basic and time-based pay, and also train more teachers through incentive programs for higher education institutions.

AD also suggests overhauling the pay system, as well as incentivizing teachers who leave the profession to return to teaching through career change bonus mechanisms and an IRS deduction for living expenses for teachers located more than 70 km from your district. living place.

Chega, BE and Livre are also offering compensation to fired teachers, but Chega’s proposal only applies to those more than 100 km away, while Livre’s program reduces this distance to 60 km.

The IL is a short-term response to the teacher shortage by creating a regime that allows for the hiring of retired teachers until January 31, 2023, who will be able to build up their pension with compensation equivalent to the first phase of an employee. teachers and proportional to teaching time.

Competitions and recruitment of teachers

After the government approved a new teacher management and recruitment regime last year, the CoP is now proposing to simplify the rules for competition for teacher recruitment.

AD advocates a regime that takes into account other factors such as location and grades, while Livre wants “teachers not to be forced to accept vacancies far from their place of residence under penalty of punishment in future competitions.”

With a proposal that has faced strong opposition in the past, even forcing the government to back down, IL advocates greater autonomy for schools so they can choose the human resources “that best suit the educational project they are developing.”

Reorganization of basic and secondary education

All parties propose to reconsider the organization of primary and secondary education and curricula in one way or another. The PS, on the one hand, points to scientific and humanities courses, proposing to “expand the possibilities of organizing the curriculum with a stronger common core and greater possibilities of options.”

AD proposes more structural changes by integrating Cycles 1 and 2 and, within the curriculum, advocates a revision of core teaching to create a “curriculum grounded in scientific and cultural knowledge” and flexibility. Study loads are required in all cycles.

Without requiring the subjects, Chega intends to reduce the school curriculum and timetable and, on the other hand, make the Citizenship and Development subject optional.

For IS, financial literacy, which is currently included in the citizenship and development curriculum, should be strengthened to become mandatory content in secondary education.

The BE advocates a revision of the organization of cycles and the school calendar and, like the CDU, the curriculum.

Livre, in turn, wants to remove the subject “Moral and Religious Education” from the public school curriculum and make the 12th year of study the zero year for entry into higher education or professional life.

National examinations and comparison tests

Recognizing the need to strengthen external assessment, AD offers assessment tests in the 4th and 6th years of study in Portuguese, mathematics and the third subject every three years.

IL and Chega go further and defend the return of the 4th and 6th grade exams, abolished in 2016 by then Socialist minister Thiago Brandão Rodrigues.

On the contrary, the left agrees that there is more evidence. BE therefore suggests that assessment tests should be administered selectively rather than universally, and advocates ending final tests in year 9.

The most radical proposal comes from the CDU, which wants to abolish all final tests and examinations, including in secondary education, and proposes a review of the assessment test regime, while Livre proposes to “rethink the compulsory holding of national examinations” on the 11th and 12th. years.

After the government changed the conditions for secondary education last year, maintaining compulsory national exams but with less weight in the final average, the CoP is not presenting proposals to change external assessment.

Role of the Ministry of Education and Finance

Some election programs also mention the role of the Ministry of Education and funding for the sector. AD, for example, proposes that the trustee function as a regulator rather than as a decision maker about the operation of public schools.

Chega, in turn, proposes to rename it the “Ministry of Education” and abolish “all ministerial bodies that are not absolutely fundamental to the priority distribution of budget funds as directly as possible to students and schools.”

In the area of ​​funding, IL is once again advocating for a paradigm shift from school funding to per student funding. The Liberals’ goal is to give families freedom of choice so that students can enroll in a public, private or social sector school “knowing that they are equally supported by the government.”

Student hotel

In addition to education, the parties are also presenting proposals for higher education, where one of the main problems is the lack of housing. In this sense, PS advocates for increased support for the accommodation of displaced students, in addition to the implementation of the National Accommodation Plan for Tertiary Institutions (PNAES), launched in 2018.

AD proposes increasing direct investment in the construction and conversion of halls of residence, also using empty government buildings, as well as contracts with local authorities, social services agencies and private investors to build student halls of residence and private student accommodation.

For IL, the answer is to increase the speed of licensing and “create a logic of public-private partnership in which private parties build and operate” and also issue scholarship students with some sort of “vouchers” for “residences or informal housing/private housing.” /Social”.

To increase supply, BE proposes to refurbish public buildings that are not in use, enter into protocols with the hotel and local accommodation sector to provide rooms at controlled prices and “requisition of properties allocated for local accommodation or premises used for tourism purposes, giving priority to houses owner-owned with a large number of local/tourist accommodation facilities.”

The CDU proposes to increase the accommodation allowance for scholarships, as well as the construction, renovation and adaptation of public housing.

Livre advocates a revision of the PNAES that should also set targets for local authorities, higher education institutions, the co-operative and private sectors, in addition to the conversion of public buildings and strengthening budget allocations so that local authorities and universities can develop their own projects.

Cost and access to higher education

With proposals that are not new, the CDU is pushing for the abolition of tuition fees, fees and charges for all academic degrees, while the BE proposes setting a maximum ceiling for master’s and doctoral degrees, and the Livre advocates an end to tuition fees for academic degrees and in the academic part of the master’s degree, as well as regulation of the amount of tuition fees for the year of the dissertation or internship.

Chega, in turn, wants to waive tuition fees for students completing mandatory professional internships.

Still in higher education, but in terms of access, IL proposes that universities and polytechnics could introduce other criteria in addition to the average, such as aptitude tests, vocational tests, motivation letters, letters of recommendation and student portfolios.