Budget ouvert : budgets participatifs des écoles au Portugal

Open budget: participatory budgets for schools in Portugal

This book, developed within the framework of the IIEP-UNESCO research project "Open Government in Education: Learning from experience", focuses on the participatory school budgets implemented at the initiative of the Portuguese Ministry of Education since 2017.

These participatory budgets allow students to actively participate in the development of a project to improve their school. More than 200,000 children have been able to vote in one of the five editions organised so far, and 90% of Portuguese public schools have participated - making this project the country's largest and most emblematic measure of open government in education. Interviewees for the study included school headmasters, members of school management committees, members of parents' associations, teachers and pupils in the five main regions of mainland Portugal.

The responses highlight the success of this initiative in disseminating a participatory culture within schools. Although this programme does not impact major decisions about school management, it strengthens the role of students in decision-making processes, as well as their sense of belonging and responsibility towards the school community.

The book concludes with a list of recommendations to improve the programme in each school, to strengthen partnerships between schools and municipal authorities in the context of increasing municipalization of education policies, and to improve monitoring and evaluation mechanisms by the state.

ISBN: 978-989-33-3943-5

For more information on CES's website, click here.