Abstract
The creation of Vocational Education Courses in 2012 rekindled recurring debates that shaped the process of institutionalization of basic education in Portugal and brought to light tensions between the need to diversify education pathways and to ensure equity. A diachronic analysis of educational policies was conducted based on legislation, parliamentary speeches and newspaper articles. The analysis traced the process of dualization of education in Portugal and identified six different periods that help to better understand the reasons for the recent change. It also revealed a story where actors, narratives and solutions reappear, even in face of new realities, raising theoretical questions about what drives change in policy.
Highlights
The construction of modern education systems all over Europe occurred for three main reasons: (1) because it was central for the formation of citizens and national identity, (2) because it quickly became clear that the population’s educational attainment generated economic development, and (3) because technological advances required a high availability of skilled labour (Nóvoa and Lawn, 2002; Green, 1997).1In Portugal, the context of economic and technological growth that preceded the 1974 revolution and the country’s integration in the EU generated the need to feed the labour market with qualified workers and urged the promotion of school access to a large number of students, regardless of their social origin
Equal opportunity became a central issue in educational policy
Basic and mandatory schooling was established for the first nine years and diversification of educational pathways postponed to secondary school, where technical and academic pathways coexisted, both enabling access to higher education
Summary
The construction of modern education systems all over Europe occurred for three main reasons: (1) because it was central for the formation of citizens and national identity, (2) because it quickly became clear that the population’s educational attainment generated economic development, and (3) because technological advances required a high availability of skilled labour (Nóvoa and Lawn, 2002; Green, 1997).1In Portugal, the context of economic and technological growth that preceded the 1974 revolution and the country’s integration in the EU generated the need to feed the labour market with qualified workers and urged the promotion of school access to a large number of students, regardless of their social origin. The emergence of educational studies and findings of scientific research are important in explaining the change: studies began to show that social inequalities were objectified and legitimized by school processes and policies of diversification of pathways were seen as threats to equal opportunities (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1964).
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