Minister of Education defends “more careful” reading of the school ranking

The Minister of Education defended this Friday that the reading that is made of the ranking of schools « must be more cared for ». Fernando Alexandre admitted that the lack of teachers has an impact on the known results.

“We have no doubt (that the lack of teachers has an impact on school success). It is no coincidence that we define as a priority reduce the high number of students without classes for extended periods, said the ruler.

« And until the end of the legislature we had defined as objective to end, in fact, with students without classes, » he added, quoted by the agency Lusa.

According to the minister, « we have to have teachers for all students and then we have to have a support for students who have difficulties and who have lost learning to recover these learning. »

Fernando Alexandre, on the sidelines of the National Science Club Forum at school, in Porto, also called for caution in reading the rankings, arguing that “comparisons should be made between schools with students in a much favored socioeconomic context with others who“ cannot, for example, fix teachers ”.

« We make available the information and the rankings are built by the media, the newspapers, the investigators, » the minister recalled.

« It is essential to free this information because it gives an indication of what is the evolution of our education system and the results that are achieved, » he said.

« The problem of the ranking is when a comparison between schools is not made in view of the socioeconomic context of students, » he recalled.