The omnipresent International Monetary Fund has reviewed Portugal’s spending on education, the conclusions will not be welcomed by teachers.
The usual blurb about 'improving efficiency' and a 'need to raise performance in education' were as expected but an emphasis on one unstoppable trend will help elevate the subject to the forthcoming election battlefield.
Portugal has fewer and fewer children to educate, so a reduction in schools and teachers should be made, starting now, according to the IMF report.
In the report released today, the experts who prepared the document stated that spending on education rose significantly in the period before the adjustment programme, particularly in secondary schools and higher education.
The International Monetary Fund won’t let go of Portugal’s poor spending efficiency and believes that there is considerable scope for improvement, suggesting further ‘adjustments’ aka 'cuts' in the school system and in teachers.
The report highlights that the average number of students per class and per teacher was below the EU average in 2012 in both primary and secondary education, but that this did not result in better performance.
The IMF report states that Portugal significantly has improved its position between 2003 and 2012, but remains below the EU average in mathematics and science.
Then came the worrying bit, "there is a need better to align the level of personnel to the declining school-age population."
Followed up swiftly with the fact that teachers get paid too much, ‘a significant premium,’ compared to equivalent workers with the same level of qualifications.
The number of students in the Portuguese education system fell 2.4% between 1998 and 2012 and is expected to continue to decrease.
This decline first will be seen in the 1st and 2nd basic education cycle where a drop of 13% is predicted between 2010 and 2020.
"As a result, you will need further adjustment in the network of schools and in the number of teachers, particularly in rural areas, where the pace of decline of the population is much faster."
The IMF report does note that an ambitious reform programme was announced in recent years "to improve the quality of educational services,” and calls for more vocational training, presumably not in teaching.
