Political Framework
In the nineteen seventies Portugal underwent a series of major political, social and economic changes, with the 1974 revolution marking the end of the dictatorship and colonial regime. This restored to the citizens of Portugal their fundamental rights and liberties, which are now enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Portugal and reflected in the democratic institutions now in place.
In 1986 Portugal became a member of the European Economic Community (EEC), now the European Union (EU), and has since achieved steady improvements in the economic and social spheres, making it today a modern developed society.
In accordance with the Constitutional Law, “the Republic of Portugal is a democratic Legal State, based on the sovereignty of the people, freedom of democratic expression and political organization, respect for and guaranteed enforcement of fundamental rights and liberties, and the separation and interdependence of powers, with a view to achieving an economic, social and cultural democracy and the development of participative democracy.”
School System
The Portuguese Education System is made up of pre- school, compulsory, upper-secondary and higher education.
Pre-school education is optional and is designed for children between 3 and school starting age.
Compulsory schooling lasts for 9 years, from 6 to 15 years old. It is divided into three successive cycles that last 4, 2 and 3 years respectively.
Upper-secondary is structured into 3 academic years and is organised according to differentiated forms with permeability between courses, which are designed for further study or the job market.
Non-higher post upper-secondary is organised into specialised technology courses, which aim to qualify students for the job market and confer a level 4 vocational training.
The education and training of young people and adults provides a new opportunity to those with low level qualifications. A wide range of courses guarantee double school and vocational education (which corresponds to compulsory and upper-secondary education and a level 1, 2 or 3 vocational qualification).
ME in Schools
In Portugal, compulsory education is divided into three learning cycles. As shown in Table 4.1, music education is a compulsory subject only in the first and second cycle (Ministério da Educação, 2001).
| Number of academic years | Pupils’ age | Music education as a curricular subject | Professional responsible for teaching music education |
1st cycle | 4 | 6-9 | Compulsory | Primary teacher |
2nd cycle | 2 | 10-11 | Compulsory | Specialist music teacher |
3rd cycle | 3 | 12-14 | Optional | Specialist music teacher |
Curricula
1st Cycle
In 2006, the Ministry of Education launched a programme that consisted of‘10 weekly hours of extra-curricular activities (English, Music, Sports) taught by specialist teachers, where children attend on a voluntary basis’ (Boal-Palheiros,2008, p. 98). A music syllabus was created with specific guidelines intended to help teachers develop their work. The Portuguese Ministry of Education entitled these activities ‘Curriculum Enrichment Activities’ (Ministério da Educação,2006). Even though music education is part of the official curriculum (Ministério da Educação, 2001) the implementation of the ‘Curriculum Enrichment Activities’ has been the cause of some ambiguity as there is repetition of music in both curriculums. Mota (2007) outlined some concerns about the implementation of music as an enrichment activity, explaining that with the new programme music education may be discarded from the elementary curriculum in some schools. Pupils not attending afterschool enrichment activities could be in danger of not receiving any music education. As a possible solution, Mota (2007; Mota & Costa,2002) advocated for collaborative work between the primary teacher and a music specialist. This collaborative work could be done through the implementation of projects that, on the one hand, would have their focus on making music, through performance, composition or audition, and, on the other hand, would embrace a real interdisciplinary process relating music with other arts and also with other curriculum subjects. However, until now, this has not become general practice, and pupils receive music education in primary schools within the voluntary
‘Curricular Enrichment Activities’, while provision of musical activities in school hours depends on the particular primary teacher (Ministério da Educação, 2001).
2º and 3ºCycle
In 2011, the ministry of Education ended with the document that regulatet our nacional Curriculum for Compulsury Education.
The ministery created insted several „Learning Goals“ for each one of the subject metters tought during compulsury education. These goals stress de aquisition of skills and comcepts, contrary to the precious emphasis on praxis, procedural knowledge and Social Construtivist aproaches to learningIn what respects Music Education, these Learning Goals are defind according to the following themes:
1. Development of Comunication and Espression Skiils;
2. Development of Creative Skills;
3. Appropriation of Basic Musical Language.
4. These themes should be develop in order to attend seven learning goals related to:
- singing songs;
- playing conventional and non conventional musical instruments,
- hearing and analyzing music according to acquired concepts and codes,
- improvising and composing musical accompaniments and small musical pieces using modal and tonal sound organizations, expressing sonic ideas according to manifold stimuli and intentions Identifying analyzing and describing musical characteristics in musical pieces;