Job Shadowing Braga in Portugal.
Date: 7th till 14th of May 2023
Written by: Sandra Guci and Dana Pouw
Teachers at: OBS De Plantage in Houten (Netherlands)
Visited schools: Francisco Sanchez en EB de S. Victor in Braga (Portugal)
From day 1 we were very welcomed and we had great contacts with both students and teachers. It is nice to experience that all teachers have the same passion: teaching students in a way that makes them feel comfortable. If children feel good for sure they can learn at their best! We were taken into Portuguese culture and we exchanged many experiences. The care and love that the teachers and other supervisors gave to all children was beautiful to see!
Education in Portugal
In Portugal public education is free and is compulsory up to the age of 16. In addition to education, the schools offer after-school care and a canteen where lunch is served. Most children in Portugal have classes from Monday to Friday, from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm. However, many children spend full days at school, until 5 or 6 pm (which is still called ‘afternoon’ in Portugal) because there are many after-school activities.
From the age of 6, children are required to attend school. From the age of 3, children can attend the ‘pre-escola’, comparable to the Dutch kindergarten classes.
We visited 2 schools. At the S. Victor School students are aged 6 to 10 and at the Francisco Sanchez School children are aged between 10 and 16. The last three years of Portuguese primary education are comparable to the first years of secondary education in the Netherlands, with the difference that there is only one level.
There are many support staff at the schools. They take a lot of work out of the teachers’ hands.
Inclusive education
We saw a nice way of inclusive education in both schools we visited.
The mentally handicapped children are, when it is possible, between the regular students but they are also educated in a separate classroom or they go out with their supervisors. In the special room they teach the pupils about different subjects. The children learn skills they need to live in society.
There are also several volunteers involved who teach these children all kinds of things. For example, we participated in a music lesson and we learned to play the ukulele together with the children. It was nice to see that the children felt important and seen and we had a lot of fun together with them.
The teachers make special plans for these children. In this plan is written what the needs of the students are and which lessons they do and do not participate in.
Each special pupil has its own supervisor who goes to the classes and helps where necessary.
The children who need a little extra care, such as children with mild autism, adhd, add or other mild disabilities are in regular classes. These children have supervisors at school, but external experts from different clusters are also involved.
The approach we have seen is heartwarming for these children.
The school is a mini society. All children meet and learn to respect each other.
We believe that students can learn from each other in this way and that all children can benefit from this later in society. This is an important part of citizenship.
Portfolio:
At the EB de S. Victor we saw that the children had a notebook with all the important goals they had learned during that school year.
There is also space for stories, drawings and poems. We can imagine that the children use this as a reference in the classroom or in the years that follow. In addition, it is a nice memory for later. Sometimes children like to be able to look things up if they don’t remember it. This could be a nice way. We’re going to show this to the Dalton Committee at our school.
Sustainability:
We attended several classes on sustainability and when we were welcomed at the school children performed for us and it was also dedicated to this topic. In a creative way, students showed how the wagons at the famous “Bom Jesus” went up using water power.
Many lessons are given on a project basis. Teachers are very enthusiastic about this and we saw that it makes the students very motivated.
