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Qualitative Info |
The Third Report on Portugal published by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) highlights the legislation providing for the introduction in schools of compulsory classes in Portuguese as a second language for children whose mother tongue is not Portuguese. and the adoption of Decree-Law no. 67/2004 which guarantees the right of children whose foreign parents have no legal status in Portugal to enrol in schools under the same conditions as children of non-nationals who do have legal status.
The ECRI report also highlights some initiatives taken to encourage school attendance by Roma children, as the creation of posts of socio-cultural mediators who act as a liaison point between families and schools and initiatives taken by the Alto Comissariado para a Imigração e Diálogo Intercultural (ACIDI) [High Commission for Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue] designed to raise the awareness of non-Roma teachers and pupils to Roma culture. According to the report, the Portuguese authorities stated that the school attendance rate of Roma children has risen since the creation of these mediator posts. The report also refers to the case of a minority of Roma children whose parents have a nomadic lifestyle and benefit from the school network which enables them to attend school throughout the year in Portugal.
According to the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX III) Portugal occupies a good position on access and on international education, with all pupils, regardless of status, access school and support for disadvantaged families. The MIPEX III highlights ACIDI projects and the national programme Escolhas [Choices] which in its third edition worked with 780 partners and 81,695 beneficiaries, particularly disadvantaged immigrant youth.
The I Plano para a Integração de Imigrantes (PII, 2007-2009) [I Plan for Immigrant Integration] and the II Plano para a Integração de Imigrantes (PII, 2010-2013) [II Plan for Immigrant Integration] adopted several measures accross various policy areas, including education.
For the I Plan for Immigrant Integration (2007-2009) the "Education" area of intervention included the measures (pp. 16-19):
- Training of teaching staff in interculturality;
- To revise the criteria of the school network to guarantee well balanced classes with regard to the distribution of students coming from the same groups/neighbourhoods as well as suggesting school boards to take into consideration the needs of schools to have a balanced “ethnic make up” in classes;
- Providing appropriate welcoming strategies and help the integration of student children of immigrants into schools, namely by taking into account the age levels of students, language ability and length of stay in Portugal;
- Involvement of immigrant families in School;
- Involvement of socio-cultural mediators within the school context, in collaboration with immigrant associations;
- To give importance to the role of the teacher in the welcoming and integration of students of immigrant descent;
- Equipping schools with pedagogical materials for supporting intercultural and anti-racist education;
- To reinforce Education Offices within National immigrant Support Centres with the aim of offering help in resolving problems related to the process of school enrolment for students of immigrant descent;
- To extend information for immigrant families about the Portuguese education system and how to enrol descendents of immigrants into that same system;
- Recognition, certification and validation of immigrant qualifications in the scope of the “New Opportunities” initiative;
- Collaboration of immigrant associations in promoting access to education for all children andyoung people of immigrant descent whatever their nature or immigrant status in the country;
- To expand and encourage the training and research in the field of intercultural education;
- To improve qualitative and quantitave data on cultural diversity in schools;
- To promote the welcoming of foreign students both on their immediate arrival into Portugal and during their stay;
- To publish an Information Guide for foreign students containing useful and necessary information for welcoming and integrating foreign university students;
- To promote the education and the spreading of science as a factor of social integration.
For the II Plan for Immigrant Integration covering the period 2010-2013 the "Health" area of intervention includes the measures (pp. 20-23):
- Reinforcing Training in Intercultural Dialogue as part of Continuous Teacher Training, by strengthening continuous training in the form of short-term vocational training and training workshops organized by teacher training centres;
- Defining and implementing recommendations for the constitution of balanced school classes and bringing school strategies into line for the welcoming of foreign students and descendents of immigrants;
- Improve the collection of statistical data on cultural diversity in schools;
- Diversification of offerings in education and training;
- Integration of intercultural mediators in the school context as part of the “Educational Territories for Priority
Intervention” (TEIP) programme;
- Access by foreign students to social action support in school, at all levels of education;
- Informing schools of intercultural teaching resources for intercultural and anti-racist education;
- Dissemination of best practices in the welcoming, aid and integration of students who are descendents of immigrants;
- Support for the welcoming and integration of foreign students and students who are descendents of immigrants in Portugal;
- The “SEF goes to school” initiative - streamlining document regularization processes for immigrant minors
attending state schools.
The "Culture and Language" area of intervention also includes a measures conceived to consolidate the Portuguese as a Second Language programme, enforce the applicable legislation on Portuguese as a Second Language and increasing awareness of the existence of courses in Portuguese as a Second
Language targeted essentially to inform the people responsible for children’s education (p. 15).
Source
ACIDI (2007), I Plan for Immigrant Integration (2007-2009), http://www.acidi.gov.pt/_cfn/4d346c9b80687/live/Consulte+a+versão+do+Plano+2007-2009+em+inglês+, Date of access: 26.01.2012.
ACIDI (2010), II Plan for Immigrant Integration (2010-2013), http://www.acidi.gov.pt/_cfn/4d346c9b80687/live/Consulte+a+versão+da+Plano+2010-2013+em+Inglês, Date of access: 26.01.2012.
ACIDI, (2010), Relatório Final: I Plano para a Integração de Imigrantes (2007-2009), http://www.acidi.gov.pt/_cfn/4d346c9b80687/live/Conheça+o+Relatório+Final+do+PII+%282007-2009%29, Date of access: 26.01.2012.
ECRI (2007), Third Report on Portugal, Strasbourg: Council of Europe, http://hudoc.ecri.coe.int/XMLEcri/ENGLISH/Cycle_03/03_CbC_eng/PRT-CbC-III-2007-4-ENG.pdf, Date of access: 27.02.2012.
MIPEX (2010), Migrant Policy Index III - Portugal, http://www.mipex.eu/portugal, Date od access: 27.02.2012.
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