The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way the teaching model was used worldwide and Portugal was no exception. With national exams for 11 and 12-year-old students still in progress, the measures for the next school year rely on the help of digital to ensure the resumption of safety education. Reinforcement of teacher training and reinforcement of digital skills for students, center and schools, but also the delivery of computers to students, are some of the bets for the future.
Three scenarios are prepared depending on the epidemiological situation in the country: face-to-face and mixed and face-to-face regimes. For the Government, there is a clear orientation that the "rule regime" is in person. And, in this perspective, the possibility of a mixed regime and in person wants to allow schools to start preparing now for a quicker response in case of temporary need.
Although the face-to-face regime is preferred, a reference document will be published to support the diagnosis and reinforce teacher training. Digital skills, non-classroom teaching methodologies, tutoring and assessment will be some of the areas covered.
And, at a time when it is known that the Government will give computers to 300 thousand students in the next academic year, the Ministry guarantees that it will also equip schools, centers and students for the development of digital skills. In this sense, a set of measures will be implemented, in different phases, "which can launch and achieve universal access to these resources at the infrastructure level", explained Tiago Brando Rodrigues.
To help fulfill this mission, computers will be acquired which will be primarily for students of school social action. In another aspect, aimed at teachers, a digital training program will be developed, with the aim of further promoting a greater dematerialization of school textbooks.