The Regional Secretary for Education and Training announced on the sidelines of an interview for RTP-Açores concerning the preparation of the next school year specific measures in order to ease the work of teachers, boost the efficiency in the distribution of teaching service as well to improve the performance of students at school.

These measures will come into effect from September. At the occasion, Cláudia Cardoso explained that these measures follow the results of the external assessment tests in the subjects of Portuguese and Math, and the need for improvement of some aspects concerning the implementation of the new Portuguese and Math programmes, which are essential to a quality education.

The "Government will introduce some adjustments to the consolidation process in the implementation of the new basic education programmes with the purpose of increasing the efficiency in the distribution of teaching service and the enhancement of school outcome." These goals will be achieved through the promotion of "an education model based on autonomy and responsibility at schools."

The Regional Secretary also mentioned that following the results of the external assessment tests in the subjects of Portuguese and Math that were taken at basic education schools, the Government has decided to reinforce the implementation of new basic education programmes . With these measures, the Government intends to "increase the efficiency of teachers' work and contribute to the improvement of the educational success of students."

"The investment in the elementary level is crucial to the future educational success of students," stated the government official. Starting next year, the head teacher will no longer teach Physical Expression; the latter will be taught by a middle school teacher. These hours will be dedicated to strengthen the teaching of Portuguese Language and Math.

The Regional Secretary also announced that the "School Board may authorise the swap between the teaching of Portuguese and Math among teachers from the same school at the teachers' request." This possibility allows a teacher that feels more comfortable at teaching Math to do so in various classes at the same school.

Regarding middle school and junior high school level, the Regional Secretary also announced that a school hour credit up to a maximum of two time segments of 45 minutes per class will be granted to the schools that have requested it.

According to Cláudia Cardoso, these measures "ensure, on the one hand, the autonomy of the school and, on the other hand, the creation of conditions for strengthening the implementation of the new Portuguese and Math programmes, which will contribute to the improvement of students' performance."