Portugal
Country:
General Information:
Portugal is a country with long traditions of educational support for pupils with special education needs. Since the 1970s, integration of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools - at various levels and using different organisational models - has taken place. These models of integration range from total integration in the mainstream classroom through to partial integration in activities with mainly social characteristics as well as integration in a special class within a mainstream school.
Traditionally, support has been organised via Special Teaching Teams - specialist peripatetic teachers going into mainstream schools in order to support pupils and/or teachers. Sometimes, pupils with special educational needs attended special classes for support.
As this organisation was not seen as been the most adequate to meet pupils' and school needs, new legislation has been recently introduced - (July 1997) - which organises and places educational support in mainstream schools. The support teachers "belong" to schools that have pupils with special education needs and the so called "special teaching" is as much a resource of that school as any other. The attached support aims to meet whole school needs and also serve the wider local community.
For pupils with more severe special educational needs, the tendency is to establish partnerships between the special institutions (CERCI) and the co-ordination teams of educational supports. Often there may also be the involvement and contribution of other services - such as the Social Assistance Ministry, Employment services as well as the Municipality - in order to establish support projects to allow the pupils to participate in social and school activities within their own home area.
Agreements between the Ministry of Education, Co-operatives (CERCI) and Parent's Associations receive several means of financial support from the State, namely funding for teachers' and some technicians' and several fees (food, transport, etc.)
Regarding the private profit - making institutions (Colégios), the Ministry of Education pays a certain amount of money in order to support each pupil.