Education and Equity in Semi-peripheral Countries: Current Trends in the Field of Priority Education in Portugal

AbstractResearch conducted in various countries has highlighted the problems of achieving the ideal of equal educational opportunities in societies where there continues to be a broad social divide and high levels of poverty. In recent decades, in an attempt to reverse this trend, we have seen the development of programmes for educational intervention which, although initiated and financed by governments, rely increasingly on partnerships between the public and private sectors. In Portugal, there are currently two programmes of this kind: “Domains for Priority Intervention” (TEIP), a public venture but one that envisages the development of partnerships with different local actors (local authorities, associations, companies, social institutions); and the EPIS Programme (Entrepreneurs for Social Inclusion), which supports schools with high dropout rates. In this paper we generally describe these projects (directives, strategies, methodologies) and assess their impact in terms of the stated objectives: a decrease in under-achievement and dropout; improvement in the quality of learning; and increased social and educational expectations in young people at risk of social and school exclusion. The assessment of the programmes under analysis is made on the basis of case studies carried out by the authors in the metropolitan area of Lisbon and of national statistics (evolution of students’ academic results, in at risk areas, in the last four years).Our aim is to contribute to a greater awareness on the relationship between education, learning and achievement in situations where there is an increased risk of social and school exclusion