Study Visit in Portugal 2012

For the fourth consecutive year, the Portuguese Inspectorate of Education was hosting a Study Visit (SV) focused on the Impact of School Evaluation for Quality Improvement, in the scope of the Lifelong Learning Programme , which addresses education experts. The concise report and photos are available.

 Concise Report of the Study Visit_46/2012
The Impact of School Evaluation on Quality Improvement
 
From the 22 to 26 October, Lisbon hosted the fourth Study Visit - Impact of School Evaluation on Quality Improvement - aimed at education experts and organized by IGEC under the Lifelong Learning Program. This year IGEC was attended by fifteen experts of fifteen countries.
As in the previous study visits, this one was comprised three main components:

Theoretical - encompassing presentations of the organizers and participants particularly focused on school evaluation and on specific evaluation activities;

Practical - which including visits to four schools, a presentation on the Palmela Municipality (which had the active participation of Ms. Mayor), namely its responsibilities on education and evaluation (municipalities are responsible for the provision of compulsory education), and a visit to the Higher School of Education in Lisbon (which provide graduations and initial training courses for teachers, as well as in-service training and some advanced courses). This year the participants had the opportunity to visit three clusters of schools (in Lisbon, Pinhal Novo and Odivelas) and a School of Arts. The schools, in addition to presenting relevant information about their activity and their projects, also organized guided visits around the schools so that participants could observe the premises, facilities and provision. Finally the schools had the opportunity to present their views on the external evaluation of schools and their effects. In all schools the participants had the opportunity to interact spontaneously with students and school staff. Most presentations (both the participants’ and the schools’) were open to the staff and to representatives of the education community;

Cultural – in addition to several moments for sharing personal and professional experiences and becoming familiar with the Portuguese school evaluation system, there were some moments that enabled the participants to be aware of some national cultural and historical features. Among them we underscore the international dinner (with traditional food and drink brought by participants), a guided visit to Palmela Castle and some musical moments provided by the students at some of the visited schools.