ICT in Portuguese educational system

Technological Plan for Education (PTE) is the programme to modernize Portuguese schools technologically and is one of the main goals of the present Government, part of the Portuguese Technological Plan. This Plan is bringing change in schools and making them focus on the essential activities of teaching and learning. The main goals of this plan are:

To turn classes into an interactive space of sharing knowledge without barriers or obstacles; To certify teachers, students, and other school staff, with ICT competences. To prepare students for the information society.

The Plano Tecnológico da Educação (Technological Plan for Education – PTE) intends to place Portugal among the five most advanced European countries in terms of school’s technological modernisation. The main areas of intervention of the PTE are Technology, Contents and teacher Training. These areas integrate in a transversal way every domain related to the modernisation of the Portuguese school system.

Within the PTE several initiatives have been launched: • Within the PTE several initiatives have been launched: • High-speed broadband Internet – to ensure high-speed broadband Internet access among schools; • Internet in the classroom / local area networks – to ensure Internet access in all classrooms and all school spaces; • Programme e.escola 2.0 – following the previous programme (e-escola) this new programme, designed to meet the Digital Agenda's objectives, focus on three main aims: to guarantee the continuity of access to laptops and Internet connection, with special conditions for the educative community; to promote the creation and use of digital content; and, to foster the use of next-generation networks; • e-escolinha – to provide access to a laptop with learning resources to students of first cycle schools; • Technological kit – increase the number of IT equipments in the classroom to promote the interactivity and innovation of the pedagogical practices; • School safety – to increase the safety of assets in schools against theft and vandalism; • Schools portal – reference site of schools in Portugal for sharing digital learning resources, e-learning, communication, collaborative work and access to support services for school administration; • Simplex school – information system based on an electronic platform and on a service-oriented infrastructure that allows a simplification of the school management. An example is the possibility for students that will apply for the first time to first year, may do so via online; • ICT competencies training and certification – modular, sequential and disciplinary oriented training program and certification of ICT skills

Also within PTE, two other projects were created with the aim to promote partnerships between educational institutions and enterprises, namely: • ICT internships – workplace training for vocational education students at top national and international technological companies; • ICT academies – creation of ICT academies from technological companies in schools, aiming to reinforce student’s qualifications and their entry in the job market.

As mentioned above, one of the main areas of intervention is training As mentioned above, one of the main areas of intervention is training. Last July legal guidelines concerning teacher training and certification on ICT competences were compiled. This document (Portaria 731/2009, 7th July) defines the ICT competences training and certification system for teachers from all school levels. This system is organised in three levels in accordance with the principles of strengthening, diversification and progressive enlargement of acquired skills and professional contexts of use and integration of ICT. Training of teacher trainers is addressed mainly in three dimensions:

• Internet safety: this is a central issue as well as a good starting point to address several uses of ICT in school, and even beyond school. • The pedagogical use of interactive white boards (IWB): new methodological approaches to the learning and teaching processes (around 500 teacher trainers attended the courses). • ePortfolios: following a recommendation from the Ministry of Education for the use of eportfolios for students in compulsory education, a training of teacher trainers took place addressing a specific tool (REPE) and the pedagogical use of eportfolios.

Virtual initiatives in schools e-Escolinha The e-Escolinha programme aimed at all pupils in the first years of state and private schools. the general use of computers and the internet, in order to promote access to knowledge. This computer is specifically designed for children in this age range. It is shock and liquid proof, light and small and yet can be used by the whole family.

Initiatives for Secondary Education A Mission Unit was created at the Ministry of Education on the 1st of July 2005 – CRIE (Computers, Networks and Internet at School). This unit is now a team at the Directorate-General of Innovation and Curricular Development (DGIDC) of the Ministry of Education, and retains its mission of conception, development and evaluation of initiatives concerned with computers, networks and internet use at schools and in the learning process. In the school year 2005-6 this unit promoted an initiative called “Schools, teachers and Laptops” (Iniciativa Escolas, professores e Computadores Portáteis). the curricular integration of ICT and innovation; improved the use of ICT in the classroom; promoted teamwork between teachers and educational groups; helped teachers to manage and prepare daily activities; and sustained educational projects for the present and the future. During that school year schools had to establish viable projects to develop and submit them for MoE approval. The goal was to give each school and teacher ten laptops for teachers’ use and 14 for students’ use, according to the submitted project.

Portal das Escolas It is possible to find relevant information about the schools and their educational communities Can include text, images, videos or music. Registered users can also upload resources. All schools in the country are represented on the website A new digital platform of reference for schools in Portugal, and was built with a modular logic and services will be available gradually. In the first phase, the portal is aimed at teachers and focuses on a key objective of the Technological Plan for Education, which is the use of digital educational resources in education. It is possible for teachers to access the existing contents, but also contribute as authors to the enrichment of the content repository. After being duly registered in the Schools’ Portal, with data validated by the Ministry of Education (MoE), teachers in public education up to 12th grade can upload educational resources into this repository.

Use of web 2.0 in the classrooms In Portugal there are there are several initiatives to promote the use of Web 2.0 tools in schools for teaching and learning. A teacher handbook for how to use web 2.0 has also been published (Manual de Ferramentas da Web 2.0 para Professores (http://www.crie.min-edu.pt/publico/web20/manual_web20-professores.pdf). Moreover, tools such as blogs, wikis, podcasting, social networking and sharing services (websites, images, videos, audio files, etc.) are frequently used in the education system. It is therefore perceived as necessary to provide teachers and trainers with skills for the use of such tools in a creative and reflective way, allowing the creation of new spaces for learning.

Learning platforms In Portugal, every school from 5th to 12th grade owns a learning platform, Moodle. This platform is used as a means of communication to the school community and a workplace for students and teachers.

Escola virtual The Escola virtual (Virtual School) is an elearning platform owned by the publishing group Porto Editora, Portuguese private company. In the EV program the disciplines from 1st to 12th school year is transformed into interactive lessons text, animations, videos, phrases and exercises are combines and make learning simple and effective. EV works with two different options: - Particular - service subscribed by students, teachers and parents who are individually self-study learners. – Institutional-the EV operates as a service to the school and all content can be used by teachers and students in their classrooms

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