Bilingual Schools Programme to begin in the Azores next school year
Secretaria Regional da Educação, Cultura e Desporto
The Bilingual Schools Programme in English will begin in the Azores next school year with teacher training and will be implemented in the 2025/2026 school year.
The Regional Secretary for Education, Culture and Sport, Sofia Ribeiro, explained that the programme, which is "voluntary for schools," will be implemented "as a teaching experiment." It is aimed at "the elementary school level in the public and private networks within the regional education system."
According to the government official, the project "has as its general principle the teaching of 30% of the students' weekly workload in English," encompassing English, Environmental Studies, Art Education and Physical Education.
"We are talking about curricular components strongly based on practice, which foster interaction and communication among students and, therefore, facilitate the introduction of a foreign language into the classroom," she added.
Launched last Tuesday, July 2, at an event attended by 166 teachers from regional schools, the programme has the collaboration of the British Council and is based on the Ministry of Education's Bilingual Schools in English Programme.