Research Centre on Education

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The right to education of adults in Portugal

Publication . Barros, Rosanna

The subject of this article is the right to education of adults, which is a central issue in the humanistic approach to Adult Learning and Education (ALE) that we are supportive of. From this angle we discuss human rights as an overarching framework for citizenship in Portugal, a country with a high number of low-qualified adults. The text provides a historical context, and for the analysis of the selected and specific current documents in recent policy agendas we use Tomasevski's(1) theoretical 4A framework, built mainly for school contexts, and apply it to ALE policy. This heuristic exercise makes a significant contribution to advancing knowledge in the policy studies of ALE. The objective is to understand ways of realising the right to education of adults by means of policy measures undertaken by national governments, against the backdrop of today's neoliberal trends in Europe. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to assess the degree to which the twenty-first century Portuguese policies have been adhering to the UN principles on the right to education in relation to ALE. From the discussion of the results, we conclude that the realisation of the right to education of adults has been successfully achieved.

2023Journal article

Open access

Primary English teacher education in Portugal: an exploratory study

Publication . Vieira, Flávia; Mourão, Sandie; Andrade, Ana Isabel; Cruz, Mário; Reis-Jorge, José; Leslie, Carolyn; Orega, Maria Isabel; Pinho, Ana Sofia; Silva, Elisabete Mendes; Simões, Ana Raquel

The expansion of early language learning has fostered the need to prepare qualified teachers of English to young learners. This paper presents findings from a multi-site case study of initial teacher education programmes created in 2015 in Portugal when English became compulsory in grades 3 and 4. The study investigated intended professional learning competences and tasks as described in curricula, as well as teaching and inquiry practices developed in practicum settings. A multi-method approach was used, involving the analysis of ten higher education institutions' curricula, a sample of practicum reports, the responses of former student teachers to an online survey, and reflective records from student teachers, faculty supervisors, and cooperating teachers. Findings portray a reflective, inquiry-oriented view of professional development and the enactment of current teaching approaches. The study stresses the role of curricula and practicum arrangements in creating meaningful professional learning scenarios and promoting learner-centred teaching in schools.

2022Journal article

Restricted access

Transition from University to the labour market: the impact of personal variables in graduates’ perceptions of self-efficacy

Publication . Paulos, Liliana; Valadas, Sandra T.; Almeida, Leandro S.

The transition from university to the labour market is a crucial period for graduates. It is typically characterized by a high degree of uncertainty. Self-efficacy may be a determinant in the process, but the research so far has only considered students or graduates shortly after graduation, strongly compromising its conclusions on the findings. This study aims at exploring the variables which explain the different levels of self-efficacy of graduates in transition to the labour market. A total of 694 graduates who completed their degrees at two Portuguese Higher Education Institutions in the last five years were subjected to a questionnaire. Regression and multivariate analyses based on decision trees (Recursive Partitioning for Classification) showed that (1) older graduates have higher self-efficacy in adapting to work; (2) male graduates have higher self-efficacy in emotional regulation when looking for a job; and (3) graduates with higher grades demonstrated more self-efficacy in job-seeking behaviours. The results also revealed that the graduates’ scientific area, the parents’ level of education and undergoing internships during higher education are also related to self-efficacy. Overall, the study contributed to a better understanding of the construction process of self-efficacy beliefs and its importance in the job-seeking process and in the adaptation to work.

2021-10-21Journal article

Open access

Seeking continuities and discontinuities in the European policy agenda(s) for adult learning – reflections on purposes and governance

Publication . Guimarães, Paula; Barros, Rosanna

This article focus on what is and isn't 'new' in the most recent European Union (EU) key policy document for Adult Learning (AL), because it claims (in its own title) that it will constitute a basis for a 'new' agenda. As this document has been much disseminated to Member States, we think it is important to analyse its evidence of the 'new' determined by comparing the 2021 Council Resolution [the 'New European Agenda for Adult Learning 2021-2030' (CEU, 2021)] with the two other previous EU's key policy documents for AL [the 'Renewed European Agenda for Adult Learning' (CEU, 2011) and the 'Adult Learning: It is Never too Late to Learn' (CEC, 2006)]. By highlighting how the discourse of the 'new' is used in the European policy agenda(s) we expect to give an interesting contribution for the actors that, in each country, are looking for policy implementation beyond rhetoric statements. From this analytical angle, we use an adult education policy discourse analytical model as a theoretical framework to seek for continuities and discontinuities in purposes and governance of AL in the EU. Thus, we seek the policy approach and educational rationale supporting what is claimed by the Commission of the EU to be explicitly 'new' in the most recent AL key policy document (which has significantly been entitled 'The New European Agenda for Adult Learning 2021-2030'). The core results of a comparison focussed on the educational aims, vision and policy purposes as well as main governance mechanisms of these three key documents, suggest that the 'new' in the CEU (2021) document (also known in the literature as the NEAAL 2030) is not really 'new'. Instead, the recent document reflects and maintains trends within previous rationale dating from 2006 and 2011, with policy priorities rooted in the logic of human resources management, as well as governance trends based on multilevel coordination at the European level. Here, the modernising trend toward a framework of control and standardisation, according to our theoretical model, seems to have gained momentum as a political rationale over the last 15 years. We argue those set of major continuities were, indeed, assisted by the discursive power of the 'new', which is a hyperbole favourable to the political purpose of disseminating an educational rationale of functional adaptation whose AL guidelines can influence the national policy implementation in the current contexts of Europeanisation.

2025-01-15Journal article

Restricted access