Enacting education policy reform in Portugal – the process of change and the role of teacher education for inclusion

ABSTRACT

The international trend to develop inclusive systems, has resulted in pressure on national governments to develop policies that promote quality education for all. In 2017–18 Portugal has adopted progressive educational policies with regards to inclusive education, that attempt to reconcile school values, curriculum and pedagogies. This article critically analyses changes proposed by this wave of educational policy reform and establishes the need for a strong continuous professional development of mainstream teachers to support them to develop as reflexive and inclusive practitioners. The analysis applies two models of change to examine the ‘policy ecology’ and consider the initiatives used to enact change in Portuguese schools. The policies have prioritised the development of schools in which all students are welcome, able to participate and succeed. While this wave of policy reform has relied both on formal and non-formal forms of teacher education, there is a danger of superficial approaches that may not support teachers in the process of change.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusive education
• Portugal
• education policy
• theory of change
• teacher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ines Alves

Ines Alves is a lecturer in Inclusive Education at the University of Glasgow and the Programme coordinator for the MEd in Inclusive Education. She is a co-convenor for the European Educational Research Association Network 4: Inclusive Education.