Changes, continuities and vicissitudes of History teaching in Portugal in the 21st century

Abstract

The Fundamental Law of the Education System - Law No. 46/86 of 14 October [Diário da República No. 237/1986, Series I of 1986-10-14] was a central milestone in the development of the Portuguese education system in. However, it would only achieve results with the preparation of the curricula for primary and secondary education and the production of a guiding document for a curriculum reorganization made possible from 2001, with the promulgation of Decree-Law 6/2001 and 7/2001 of 18 January. A decade later, in 2012, changes in education policy caused by the new government introduced curricular changes in primary and secondary education, through the promulgation of the Curricular Goals, reinforcing the weight of the content and its assessment. More recently, the political changes have led to a new reorientation of education policy, with the emergence of the Students’ Profile at the end of compulsory education (2017), the Essential Learnings (2018) and even the introduction of a new subject - although optional - in the last year of secondary education: History, Cultures and Democracy (2019). These changes have also affected, as expected, the teaching of History, which has known a swinging process, but also some interesting changes related to the development of the research line in History Education which, since its implementation in Portugal at the turn of the 20th century, has sought a sustained articulation between theory and practice in the teaching and learning process of Portuguese students of different educational levels.