Political power in Portugal has shifted to the left. October elections brought a left-wing majority into the Portuguese parliament which effectively toppled the current conservative government last Tuesday the 2nd of November. A leftist government is currently waiting for a final green light, a formal nomination from the Portuguese President Cavaco Silva.
Artigo na ELM Magazine | Carlos Ribeiro Correspondente para Portugal
Hopes are high for adult education
The leftist coalition is headed by the Socialist Party and includes the Left Bloc, the Green Party and the Communist Party. For the first time in four years Portuguese adult educators are hopeful.
Under the previous conservative government, adult education all but disappeared from the political agenda. (See box below) Now, expectations for deep changes in adult education policies are huge and legitimate since the last left-wing governments supported and encouraged the growth of this fundamental area of education policy.
– During the recent electoral campaign the leader of the Socialist Party pointed to the adult education as a programmatic priority, reminds Luis Capucha, President of the National Agency for Qualifications in the last Socialist government.
Leftist coalition document emphasises adult education
The Agreement signed by the Socialist Party, the Left Bloc, the Communist Party and the Greens gives emphasis to adult education. The “Government Program Proposition for the XIII Legislature” (Proposta de Programa de Governo para a XIII Legislatura), titled “Priority to People“, includes a separate chapter for adult education.
-The chapter states that skills deficits cannot be solved only with policies promoting school success at the pre-schooling, basic, secondary and tertiary education levels, Capucha says.
In Portugal about 62% of the population aged 25-64 has not completed upper secondary education, and long-term unemployment is particularly severe among unemployed with low qualifications.
-Therefore, we assume the new government would promote their Program of Education and Training for Adults that would develop a solid lifelong learning system for the next decade.
A program with concrete proposals for adult education
The proposed adult education program is multi-faceted.
It would develop specific courses addressing specific needs of groups such as the unemployed and the illiterate. It would also include training for employers (who are generally less qualified than the employed) and stimulate local networks for qualification.
All in all, the plan is to reinstate adult education policy as an object of social dialogue between social partners.
