All-day schooling: improving social and educational Portuguese policies

• Main Author: Jorge Martins
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kura Publishing 2015-03-01
• Series: International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education
• Subjects: Educational Policies; Educational equity; All-day schooling; Curricular enrichment activities
• Online Access: https://iejee.com/index.php/IEJEE/article/view/75/73

Over the past decade, several European countries have implemented policies and programmes leading to the introduction of the concept of ‘all-day schooling’, thus acknowledging the need to guarantee the guard of all children and to enhance equal opportunities of success at school. The Portuguese Ministry of Education created and funded the Curricular Enrichment Activities Programme as a measure to support the generalisation of all-day schooling in Portuguese primary schools. Our study aimed at evaluating the reach of the political measures associated with all-day schooling, as was implemented in Portugal by the AEC programme, by focusing on two central dimensions: the political and the curricular. Two cases of different local decisions were studied. The results revealed a unanimous valorisation of the philosophy and the objectives underlying the AEC programme, which gives shape to a ‘good measure’ of social and educational public policies, consistent with the nuclear project of all-day schooling. They also showed, however, that the dimension of the curricular enrichment still needs to be improvedOver the past decade, several European countries have implemented policies and programmes leading to the introduction of the concept of ‘all-day schooling’, thus acknowledging the need to guarantee the guard of all children and to enhance equal opportunities of success at school. The Portuguese Ministry of Education created and funded the Curricular Enrichment Activities Programme as a measure to support the generalisation of all-day schooling in Portuguese primary schools. Our study aimed at evaluating the reach of the political measures associated with all-day schooling, as was implemented in Portugal by the AEC programme, by focusing on two central dimensions: the political and the curricular. Two cases of different local decisions were studied. The results revealed a unanimous valorisation of the philosophy and the objectives underlying the AEC programme, which gives shape to a ‘good measure’ of social and educational public policies, consistent with the nuclear project of all-day schooling. They also showed, however, that the dimension of the curricular enrichment still needs to be improved.