The influence of the European governance of Education on Portuguese educational policies

Abstract

As it is ruled by the Open Method of Coordination, there is not a truly European education policy governed by directives. Instead, there are guidelines, the sharing of good practices, strategic frameworks, monitoring instruments, and, perhaps more prominently, a Cohesion Policy that steers States’ action and demands compliance with conditionalities. 

We argue that the European governance of education policy is an example of harder soft governance due to mechanisms that drive States towards the adoption of the strategy, common frameworks, and agreed narrative. Any deviation from these supranational inputs might result in sanctions (either naming and shaming or funding cuts) and in a perception that there is no alternative.

By looking at the transposition of the European discourse to the Portuguese reality, we identify a handful of declared influence examples within national laws (e.g. common frameworks or European targets). On the other hand, we also look at the Intermunicipal Communities’ increasing responsibilities, triggered by the decentralization of the power process and by the need to absorb structural funds.