Learning and assessment

You have plenty of freedom in how your child learns, but the plan still needs to follow Portugal’s current curriculum documents.

For basic education, use the Aprendizagens Essenciais for each cycle and subject. At scientific-humanistic secondary level, use the Essential Learning for the subjects in your child’s chosen course. The plan also needs to reflect the Perfil dos Alunos à Saída da Escolaridade Obrigatória and include the compulsory Citizenship and Development themes.

These documents describe the knowledge, skills and attitudes your child is expected to develop. They do not set a daily timetable, choose a textbook or tell you to use one teaching method. Projects, travel, online resources and practical work can all count when you can show how they support the required learning.

Include the curriculum plan in the collaboration protocol. It helps to organise the portfolio in a similar way, so you can easily connect each piece of work to a subject or learning goal.

You can use English resources, but Portuguese remains the formal language of schooling under this route.

Parts of the Portuguese curriculum can be taught bilingually in one of the foreign languages included in the national curriculum. The responsible educator needs to prove that they are proficient in that language, and the enrolment school must offer it.

English books, websites, tutors and online courses can still be part of your child’s learning. Using English materials is different from replacing the Portuguese curriculum or changing the formal language of the arrangement. Write any agreed bilingual approach into the collaboration protocol.

If your child attends an overseas online school, ask the Portuguese enrolment school or DGEstE how that study fits with compulsory education in Portugal. Overseas enrolment by itself may not meet the Portuguese home-education rules.

If your child is still learning Portuguese, ask the school about Português Língua Não Materna (PLNM), the official pathway for children learning Portuguese as an additional language.

During the application and interview, tell the school about your child’s language background, and agree how their language learning and support will appear in the collaboration protocol and portfolio.

Placement, the levels from Nível Zero up, the support your child should get and the year-9 PLNM exam are covered in the Portuguese language support guide.

Your child’s portfolio shows how their learning is developing during the year. Formal exams are used when they need to complete a cycle, subject or level of education.

In basic education, your child takes equivalence examinations at the end of each cycle, in years 4, 6 and 9, as a self-proposed candidate. If there is a national final test for a subject, it replaces the matching equivalence examination. At secondary level, your child takes an equivalence examination in the final year of each subject, or a national final exam where one is available.

The subjects, formats, registration process and dates come from the examination rules for that school year. You are responsible for registering your child by the deadline and making sure they attend. The exams are arranged through the enrolment school.

The school appoints a teacher-tutor, and you use a portfolio to show how your child is progressing during the year.

The portfolio should show your child’s work and how it has developed. It must include their own self-assessment and the responsible educator’s review. You can also include written work, photographs, project notes, reading records, practical work and certificates from activities.

Send the portfolio to the school as often as you agreed in the collaboration protocol. The teacher-tutor discusses it with you and your child, then writes a short assessment with any recommendations. The school director sends this to you within 10 working days.

The protocol must include at least one in-person monitoring session at the school at the end of the academic year. A video meeting can only replace it in exceptional circumstances when there is evidence for the change and the school director approves it.