Teachers strike to start benchmarking tests today

Teachers will strike over tests starting this Friday, as part of a no-minimum-services strike called by the Union of All Educational Professionals (Stop) to restore service time.

The strike focuses on all the work of preparing, applying and evaluating comparative tests and will last until Thursday, coinciding with the dates for the Arts Education and Physical Education Year 2 comparative tests that began on Tuesday. .

Two weeks ago, after the last negotiation meeting with the Ministry of Education, the Stop national coordinator said that the stops would continue, believing that the proposals submitted by the guardianship were “crumbs for some” teachers.

At stake is a package of measures affecting the promotion of teachers in office since August 30, 2005, i.e. those who went through two freeze periods during the last economic crisis, in order to correct the resulting asymmetries from the freeze.

On the other hand, teachers require a full restoration of seniority (six years, six months and 23 days), as well as the end of vacancies for access to the 5th and 7th levels.

Unlike previous strikes, this time schools will not have to provide any minimum service following the decision of the Arbitration Court, which considered that the strike does not have “a serious and irreparable impact on the right to education (…), so there is no violation of imperative social needs”.

The decision of the Arbitration Panel stated that the assessment tests are not comparable to the national examinations or final tests of the 3rd cycle, as they are not critical for students’ academic performance or access to higher education.

“These are tests which, despite their importance in terms of the goals they are designed to achieve, have not yet gained consensus in the educational community, firstly because they do not count towards student grades and thus do not affect the final result. the classification assigned to them,” they add.

The judges also recall the period of the covid-19 pandemic when these tests were suspended, arguing that “in the field of education, the implemented ‘minimum works’ were to ensure the provision of training (…) and the completion of final examinations.”

After the first five days of the test strike, there is a new break period between May 16 and 26, which coincides with the physical education exams in the fifth year and information and communication technology in the eighth year.

In the meantime, the strike in the districts is also continuing, called by the platform of nine trade union organizations, including the national federations of education and teachers (FNE and Fenprof).

Also without the introduction of minimum services, the stopover that takes place today in Castelo Branco began in Porto on 17 April and ends on 12 May in Lisbon.