Development Education in Portugal |
It is important to note that Portugal is in a specific situation, but which is not unique in Europe. Under the former régime, Peace, or Peace Education, was an issue taken over by the Communists who, among others, fought against the régime. In other words, Peace Education did not have a good press. That is why, unlike what happened in other countries, militants, NGOs and educators wanting to take up DE could not lean on Peace Education as it is so natural to do.
However, this situation, which may have been a handicap, also made it possible to take up the issues with a less moralistic and more economical point of view.
It should be added that international organisations always had a rather minor place in the former Portugal. UNICEF was tolerated, UNESCO was censured and the United Nations were prohibited. (The dictatorship did not appreciate being condemned by the UN for its colonies - Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tomé and Cape Verde. ) So, over the decades, Portuguese public opinion had very little contact with hunger problems in the world, or with the work of the FAO, for example.
The Catholic Church, which is very dominant in Portugal, has
not organised any movement at a national level, nor any fundraising, unlike
in other countries. Portugal is one of the few European countries where
no national Lenten campaign has ever been organised. That is why, in the
early 90s, "all needed to be done; all could be done", as we might say.
It should be stressed that many of those who were members of Catholic
organisations and campaigned against colonial war in the 60s and 70s now
form the backbone of Portuguese NGOs working in DE.
It was in 1988 that the first public campaign on North-South
relations was organised. With the help of some newborn NGOs, debates, seminars
and exhibitions in five Portuguese towns were organised - Vila Real, Viseu,
Amadora, Evora and Setubal. These initiatives made a very small impact
on public opinion, and especially on the authorities, though they provoked
an unexpected echo in some circles, particularly among cultural departments
of local authorities. At that time, local power was being asserted politically
and organised, so support could be obtained in places for the first `militant'
DE activities.
Finally, it is notable that Human Rights issues were out of place
in Portugal until the 25th April 1974 (the fall of the dictatorship and
the emergence of a democratic régime), and that it took time for it to
be accepted in education in general. So, just as with Peace Education,
this issue was not a starting point for DE.
Such a partition can be explained by different factors.. On the one
hand, the big boom in compulsory schooling starting in the 80s (there was
an increase from 6 years to 9 years compulsory schooling from 1986) attracted
into the Ministry of Education a great number of very young professionals.
These young teachers belonged to a generation which had not experienced
colonial war, as most of them were still students at that time. Colonial
traumas had not inhibited their interests.
The reform of the Portuguese education system created a big opportunity
to launch a whole new process in national education. Indeed, in the same
year -1986, Portugal entered the European Community and published the legal
framework for the education system. Later, around 1989, a new syllabus
was created on an experimental basis concerning personal and social
development.
Thus, since the early 90s, many teachers of primary and secondary compulsory
education have needed to retrain to prepare for the new syllabus. Additionally,
the schools were invited to take greater pedagogical autonomy, both on
curriculum content and on educational methods.
Development Education and the National Curriculum
Initially, politicians, journalists and Church people were not interested
in DE. In fact, it is among teachers in general that the most interested
and dynamic agents were found to launch this new path in Portuguese
education.
This gave a huge opportunity for those NGOs wishing to undertake
DE. In fact, the authorities (the Ministry of Education and the State Secretary
for Cooperation) had not taken any initiative on this issue until very
recently, so NGOs occupied a terribly empty space.
NGDO-EC Liaison Committee: Development Education Group