Events

The 2026-2027 academic year began at Universidade Lusófona with two moments of reflection on the role of education in building and defending democracy.

Faculty of Social Sciences, Education and Administration: Tribute to Frei Betto

The opening of the academic year of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Education and Administration (FCSEA) took place on 21 October in the Agostinho da Silva Auditorium and was dedicated to Frei Betto, who was present. The session included the screening of a documentary about the Dominican friar and popular education, followed by a talk by António Teodoro, Director of the Institute of Education and of CeiED, entitled “Popular Education and Democracy in Brazil and Portugal – Yesterday and Today”.

Starting from a personal memory of the first World Education Forum, held in Porto Alegre in 2003, the speaker recalled the moment when Frei Betto took up his post in the Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) Programme at the start of Lula’s first government. It was from this episode that he questioned the role of popular education in building and defending democracy, in Brazil and in Portugal.

Returning to the work of Paulo Freire, he defended popular education as a practice of emancipation that recognises all people as subjects of knowledge and transformation. He recalled that, both in Portugal after 25 April and in Brazil, education was conceived as part of a democratic project that is not exhausted by elections. He also stressed that more schooling does not automatically mean greater democratic awareness, and that knowledge, on its own, does not immunise against authoritarianism. Therefore, he added, it is not enough to call for more education: we must ask what kind of education, for what purpose, and with what relationship to knowledge, justice and democracy.

In his conclusion, he defended education as a common good and as a commitment to democracy, capable of transforming “knowledge into understanding, understanding into awareness, and awareness into responsibility” for a common world.

Institute of Education: Lecture and Debate with Cristiano Gianolla

On the following day, 22 October, the Institute of Education marked the start of the academic year with a lecture and debate with Cristiano Gianolla, a researcher at the Centre for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra, where he is deputy coordinator of the research line “Democracy, Justice and Human Rights”.

The welcome session included addresses by António Teodoro, Director of the Institute of Education; and António Costa Pinto, Director of FCSEA.

Cristiano Gianolla holds a PhD in Sociology and Political Science from the University of Coimbra and the University of Rome – Sapienza. His research focuses on democracy, postcolonialism, populism, intercultural dialogue, citizenship and migration. He coordinates European projects under Horizon Europe and is the author and co-editor of six books, including the monograph Decentring Liberal-Democracy through Duty and Intercultural Democratisation (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming, open access).

The lecture, entitled “‘Duty’ as a Link of Resistance and Democratic Reinvention in the Face of the Pedagogy of Autocratic Hierarchy”, reflected on the role of duty in democratic resistance and reinvention in the face of autocratic hierarchies. The session ended with a social gathering with refreshments.

The seminar series marking the 40th anniversary of the Basic Law of the Education System (Lei de Bases do Sistema Educativo, LBSE) came to the University of Madeira, in Funchal, on 19 October. Researchers, policymakers, trade unionists and regional administration staff took stock of four decades of change in education in Madeira. The initiative is promoted by the research centres of Lusófona University, through CeiED, the University of Madeira and the University of Évora, under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic. This session focused on regional autonomy, European integration and the teaching profession.

At the opening, Nuno Fraga recalled that the LBSE was born of compromise rather than unanimity. He argued that its unfinished nature is a virtue, as it allows each generation to add what must not be lost. Liliana Rodrigues stressed that the law was passed in the same year Portugal joined the European Community, which made education a project of democracy and modernisation. She also pointed out that, in the outermost regions, equal opportunities require positive discrimination, and that autonomy without resources can widen inequalities.

Many of the talks described the path the region has built through its autonomy. Speakers referred to the Full-Time School (Escola a Tempo Inteiro), launched in 1995 and extended to all schools in 2013. They also mentioned the placing of early childhood education under the Education department, alternative curricula leading to dual certification, and an early commitment to arts education and school sport. The figures show the scale of the change: illiteracy fell from 55% in 1976 to around 4.5% in 2021, and Madeiran students went from the lowest national results in PISA in 2000 to results above the mainland average in 2022.

The teaching profession was a recurring theme throughout the day. Rita Pestana highlighted the role of the trade union movement in building a democratic public school and criticised the growing bureaucracy in teachers' work. Elsa Freitas argued that the way forward lies in continuous, collaborative professional development grounded in teacher agency, rather than simply more training. Maria José Camacho drew attention to weaknesses in specialised training for inclusive education.

In her address, the Regional Secretary for Education, Science and Technology, Elsa Fernandes, identified three challenges: moving from digitalisation to pedagogical transformation, understanding equal opportunities as a response to each student, and seeing demographic decline as an opportunity to rethink schooling. Throughout the day, several challenges were addressed to the academic community, such as deepening research on curriculum, teaching careers and school management, and developing a field of Island Studies.

The series continues in Évora on 29 October, focusing on curriculum, culture and the challenges facing the education system, and concludes in Porto on 30 October with a debate on education, qualifications, social justice and governance.

The Alfa Movement was launched in 1976, in accordance with its Manifesto, as a united movement open to all students willing to take up the challenge of engaging with local communities and deepening their experience of working with and for the people through literacy and cultural activities.

Fifty years after the launch of the Literacy Campaign organised by the Movement, which took place in the summer of 1976 across several districts of the country, this event draws on the knowledge generated by the research project “Rupture, Popular Power and Emancipation? University Students’ Participation in Literacy Movements (1974–1976)” / ROMPANTE (2024.16621.PEX). The event proposes a Roundtable Discussion, to revisit memories of literacy practices implemented in the field on the basis of Paulo Freire’s pedagogical theory, and to reflect on their objectives and outcomes.

Open to the public, this Roundtable Discussion will take place at the Aljube Museum Resistance and Freedom on 18 November 2026, starting at 3 p.m. It will bring together researchers involved in the project, members of the Alfa Movement’s Coordination Committee, and student literacy educators who took part in the Literacy Campaign.

Further information: https://www.museudoaljube.pt/evento/roda-de-conversa-movimento-alfa-brigadas-estudantis-de-trabalho-e-alfabetizacao-50-anos/

and

https://rompante.omeka.net/alfa-aljube 

Film screening and conversation with the filmmaker and guests in attendance

On 30 October, Universidade Lusófona – Porto University Centre will host the closing session of the national seminar series marking the 40th anniversary of the Basic Law of the Education System, organised by CeiED – Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Education and Development.

As part of the seminar "40 Years of the Basic Law of the Education System", the new book by António Teodoro, Director of CeiED, was presented on 14 October at 12:00 in the Agostinho da Silva Auditorium: A Educação e a Democracia Portuguesa: os futuros da escola 40 anos depois da Lei de Bases (Education and Portuguese Democracy: the futures of the school 40 years after the Basic Law). The presentation was given by Pedro Abrantes, Professor at Universidade Aberta and Vice-President of the Portuguese Sociological Association.

Published by Edições Universitárias Lusófonas in the Educação, Cultura & Território collection (no. 6), the book revisits the forty years of the Basic Law through the relationship between democracy and education. It examines its legacy, the transformations of Portuguese society and the challenges now facing the construction of education as a right, a public good and a foundation of democracy.

The book is available for €20 (launch price: €15). Orders: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | edicoes.ulusofona.pt