- 2021Approved/Agreed
- 2022Implementation
- 2023Implementation
- 2024Implementation
Background
The 21|23 Escola+ plan was approved with a view to addressing student difficulties and the social and educational asymmetries caused by the closure of schools and the conditions due the pandemic situation. It aims to promote recovery learning and to guarantee that no one is left behind. It presents a set of measures that are based on educational policies with proven effectiveness in terms of reinforcing the autonomy of schools, differentiated educational strategies aimed at promoting school success and fighting inequalities through education.
The focus of this plan is not on artificial progress, centred on statistical targets, but on an effective improvement of learning, oriented towards the development of the areas of competence included in the student profile of by the end of compulsory schooling and the essential learning (knowledge, skills and attitudes to be developed by all students, in each subject).
Objectives
Strategic objectives are to:
- recover the most compromised competences;
- diversify teaching strategies;
- invest in emotional and social welfare;
- reinforce trust in the education system;
- involve all the education community;
- build capacity, by strengthening pedagogical resources;
- monitor by assessing the impact and efficiency of the measures and resources.
Description
The plan is addressed to the basic and secondary level students, with a focus on three structural elements:
- teaching and learning that focusses on pedagogical tools for a more flexible curricular development, based on a greater capacity for autonomous and contextualised management, on strategies of proven effectiveness, on school and community activity and on support for students, especially in the school years and skills development most affected by the pandemic;
- support to educational communities that focuses on empowering schools with resources for the development of extraordinary measures towards the improvement of learning, to inclusion and to community involvement;
- knowing and evaluating that focuses on developing indicators and tools for monitoring the plan, promoting the dissemination of effective strategies, efficiency studies, the sharing of practices and the re-evaluation of measures adopted at central level as well as in each school.
The plan foresees and proposes specific actions to educational communities: tutorial support; innovative and interdisciplinary approaches in STEAM; interdisciplinary curriculum approaches; workshops on writing, reading, cinema, arts; actions for greater diversity and flexibility of learning solutions and leveraging existing resources.
In September 2021, all schools implemented the plan, each school adapting the strategies and the measures to their own specific context.
The measure is part of the NIP under the package Inclusion and equal opportunities.
Ministry of Education (ME) launched a questionnaire, to public schools, with the aim of monitoring which specific actions, were carried on. Some conclusions were:
- the greater relevance of basic education over secondary education, in the implementation of specific measures foreseen in the plan;
- nine out of 10 schools considered that the measures, foreseen in the plan, were very relevant or relevant in the process of recovering students' learning of upper secondary education;
- the measures 'Learning through Integration - transdisciplinary approaches through curriculum mapping' (95%), followed by 'School to reading - carry out activities in classrooms that bring students into contact with books that motivate them and stimulate the regular and continuous practice of reading and writing' (93%) and "Dynamic groups' (93%) were considered relevant and very relevant.
By Resolution of Council of Ministries No 66/2022 of 22 July 2022, the plan was extended for the 2022/23 school year.
Resolution 80-B/2023 of 18 July of the Council of Ministers extended the 21/23 Escola+ Plan until the 2023/24 school year. The Plan 23|24 Escola+ is aimed at education and training programmes in primary and secondary education, including public and private vocational schools. The plan is structured in seven areas:
a. Reading and writing; b. Curricular autonomy; c. Educational resources; d. Family; e. Assessment and diagnosis; f. Inclusion and well-being; g. Supporting educational communities.
The Council of Ministries stipulates that the governance model of the Plan consists of two levels:
- the various services of the Ministry of Education, which provide some support for the work of the schools;
- a level of technical and financial monitoring, enabling the evaluation of the plan's effectiveness and efficiency.
To reinforce school success and as part of the learning recovery plan Directorate-General for Education, the National Programme for Promoting School Success and the National Reading Plan launched a new platform - Recupera (Recover)- that aims to bring together and disseminate, in a single point accessible to all, resources (in different formats, themes and areas), projects, school practices and information on training offers, among other resources.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of Education (Until April 2024)
- Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI)
Target groups
Learners
- Learners in upper secondary, including apprentices
Thematic categories
Modernising VET offer and delivery
This thematic category looks at what and how individuals learn, how learning content and learning outcomes in initial and continuing VET are defined, adapted and updated. First and foremost, it examines how VET standards, curricula, programmes and training courses are updated and modernised or new ones created. Updated and renewed VET content ensures that learners acquire a balanced mix of competences that address modern demands, and are more closely aligned with the realities of the labour market, including key competences, digital competences and skills for green transition and sustainability, both sector-specific and across sectors. Using learning outcomes as a basis is important to facilitate this modernisation, including modularisation of VET programmes. Updating and developing teaching and learning materials to support the above is also part of the category.
The thematic category continues to focus on strengthening high-quality and inclusive apprenticeships and work-based learning in real-life work environments and in line with the European framework for quality and effective apprenticeships. It looks at expanding apprenticeship to continuing vocational training and at developing VET programmes at EQF levels 5-8 for better permeability and lifelong learning and to support the need for higher vocational skills.
This thematic category also focuses on VET delivery through a mix of open, digital and participative learning environments, including workplaces conducive to learning, which are flexible, more adaptable to the ways individuals learn, and provide more access and outreach to various groups of learners, diversifying modes of learning and exploiting the potential of digital learning solutions and blended learning to complement face-to-face learning.
Centres of vocational excellence that connect VET to innovation and skill ecosystems and facilitate stronger cooperation with business and research also fall into this category.
This thematic sub-category is about the way learners learn, how the learning is delivered to them, and by what means. Programmes become more accessible through a combination of adaptable and flexible formats (e.g. face-to-face, digital and/or blended learning), through digital learning platforms that allow better outreach, especially for vulnerable groups and for learners in geographically remote or rural areas.
This thematic sub-category focuses on developing and updating all kinds of learning resources and materials, both for learners and for teachers and trainers (e.g. teachers handbooks or manuals), to embrace current and evolving content and modes of learning. These activities target all kinds of formats: hard copy and digital publications, learning websites and platforms, tools for learner self-assessment of progress, ICT-based simulators, virtual and augmented reality, etc.
European priorities in VET
VET Recommendation
- VET agile in adapting to labour market challenges
- VET promoting equality of opportunities
Osnabrück Declaration
- Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). 21|23 ESCOLA+ plan: Portugal. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/41849