The Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement will be implemented in regional schools in the beginning of the school year 2011/2012.

Taking into account that all civil service bodies will be required to implement the orthographic agreement in 2012 and since the new school year starts in September 2011, regional schools will benefit from an adaptation period during the implementation of the Agreement before the beginning of the next school year.

The Agreement will be implemented in all subjects at all school levels. The training courses for the teaching staff should take place soon and, in this context, the Regional Secretariat suggested the month of July for their organisation, however organic units will be responsible for the scheduling and coordination of these training courses.

These courses will be carried out by Portuguese Language teachers, who are better acquainted with the Orthographic Agreement, as most of whom have already attended training courses on the Orthographic Agreement.

For the non-teaching staff, training will be provided by CEFAPA - Training Centre of the Public Administration of the Azores in the second half of 2011.

Schoolbooks will gradually use the new spelling, following the pace of these new adoptions or when an already adopted schoolbook has to be reprinted during its implementation period.