Relations between public education policies and Portugal’s performance on PISA

Abstract

This paper presents the most relevant aspects of a research project conducted between 2017 and 2018 whose primary purpose was to understand better what has changed in the Portuguese school system that may have contributed to the improved performance of Portuguese students in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The method used, qualitative in nature, was designed to collect data in each of the following domains: knowledge produced within the scope of PISA; public education policies that have developed since the publication, in 1986, of the Basic Law of the Education System (LBSE); perceptions of stakeholders (teachers, principals and school inspectors) about the relationships between public education policies and the improvement of student performance. The research results showed that the programs that have materialized public policies in the last three decades are related to significant improvements in the organization and pedagogical functioning of schools, in teachers' teaching practices, and their cooperation and collaboration processes. These policies and these improvements may help understand the increasingly positive performance of Portuguese students in PISA.