It is an “inspiring” project, in which each student is treated individually. The Laura Ayres School Group in Quarteira has room for the world. Or rather: students and trainees from 56 different countries. Of the total number of students, 39,2% are foreigners. To help them, an “Innovation Plan” was created to help them integrate and which, this Tuesday, September 17, fascinated the Minister of Education.
At the start of this school year – marked, once again, by a lack of teachers – Fernando Alexandre dedicated part of his tour of the country's schools to the Algarve.
After having been in Lagos yesterday – and also in Odemira, in Alentejo – the minister spent the morning in Quarteira to learn about a project that amazed him.
This is the “Innovation Plan 2024-2027”, which is already in force, and which was created with the clear objective of helping to integrate the hundreds of immigrant students who arrive at the Laura Ayres School Group every year.
Dalila Afonso, the school’s director, explained exactly this. When they arrive at school, a meeting is scheduled with each student and their guardians, always taking into account the needs – and educational stage – of each student.
An analysis is carried out by a multidisciplinary team, which includes not only teachers, but also the Family Support Office and psychologists, before the students are “divided” into two classes: one from the original group and one from the reception group.
In the school of origin, for example, they attend subjects such as Physical Education and Artistic and Technological Education; in the host school, students attend classes in Portuguese as a Foreign Language, History, Science, Mathematics and Physics and Chemistry.
The project, director Dalila Afonso assured, has been going very well, with a 100% success rate.
Minister Fernando Alexandre, who began his visit by watching a dance performance by children from the Group, was also delighted with this “Innovation Plan”.
“This is an extraordinary piece of work, a project that needs to be showcased. People do this with dedication, with love, and I think that is inspiring. Especially at a time when there is a lot of noise around education,” he said.
“It is an enormous asset to have all these nationalities in our community and this makes us richer,” he added.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the visit, Fernando Alexandre also highlighted the importance of “educational projects like this one”, in a “region facing major challenges”.
“The Algarve is the region with the greatest demographic dynamism, of course this poses challenges, but it is a wealth of wealth”, he considered.
In the minister's opinion, it is "very important" that students know "our values", but that "we also know theirs in order to respect them".
“We have fantastic young people in these countries and we have to get the best out of them. This is what happens in countries that manage to attract people and have successful immigration policies,” he concluded.
During his visit to Quarteira, Fernando Alexandre also took the opportunity to announce a new extraordinary competition for more than 2000 vacancies for teachers in Lisbon and the Algarve.
The vacancy order has already been signed by the Minister of Education and the Minister of Finance, and “the competition will be launched immediately”.
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