Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology

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Publications

Portuguese primary and secondary education in times of COVID-19 Pandemic: an exploratory study on teacher training and challenges

Publication . Henriques, Susana; Correia, Joana Duarte; Trindade, Sara Dias

The discussion about the use of digital technologies in education is not new. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the total closure of schools around the world, that forced millions of students to attend their classes from home, has demonstrated the importance of this discussion. It has highlighted the need to revisit debates about the interactions between technology and education, and the added value of digital resources to enhance the educational process. This article, based on an exploratory analysis, aims to understand how the transition from face-to-face to digital was accomplished in Portuguese primary and secondary education, namely regarding teacher training and the difficulties experienced during the emergency remote education period. The data analysed in this article were collected through an online questionnaire, disseminated through online social networks, and answered by 136 Portuguese primary and secondary education teachers. The questions focused on this article were open-ended, and the information collected was analysed using content analysis methodology. The results show how teachers have been forced to modify their pedagogical work, the importance of training, and the inherent challenges and critical reflections associated with the process, as well as the opportunities presented in a post-pandemic educational reality.

2021Journal article

Open access

Emancipation life paths of portuguese cigano/Roma women

Publication . Magano, Olga

In Portuguese society, some Cigano/Roma women, during their life paths, distance themselves from the Cigano cultural tradition, particularly in regard to marriage, schooling, employment and social life. On the one hand, there is a feeling of attachment to traditional values as family pressure to marry or in relation to gender differentiation; on the other hand, these women express a desire for empowerment autonomy and emancipation in order to draw up their own trajectories and life projects. The results obtained with 21 in-depth interviews, 10 women and 11 men, indicate that Cigano women face greater difficulties with regard to early and inbred marriage and are more prone to be victims of family and domestic violence, but they are also the main drivers of change and social transformation of Cigano/Roma families.

2022Journal article

Open access

Key factors to educational continuity and success of ciganos in Portugal

Publication . Magano, Olga; Mendes, Maria Manuela

The goal of this article is to analyse the impact of specific public policies on the school trajectories of socially vulnerable Ciganos (Gypsies/Roma) who reside/live in the Metropolitan Areas of Lisbon and Porto. Through carrying out qualitative research, the analysis of key factors will allow us to understand the reasons behind school continuity and educational success of Ciganos, as well as the identity (re)configuration processes associated with the education paths of these individuals. We find that trajectories are not only intertwined with public policies and programmes, but also with other explanatory factors inherent to the individual,to the type of support he/she receives from his/her family, the presence of key figures in their lives, and the importance of peers and institutional factors inherent to the way public schools operate.

2021Book part

Open access

Educational situation of Portuguese ciganos: social changes versus social continuities

Publication . Mendes, Maria Manuela; Magano, Olga

The purpose of this chapter is to present and discuss the main impacts of Portuguese public policies in the area of education in Portugal, since 25 April 1974. To this end, diversified information was collected, processed and analysed involving legal and other documents about these national policies, especially those of greater impact on Ciganos, in addition to thorough mapping of ongoing projects of local and social support in the Lisbon and Porto metropolitan areas, where the empirical research is being carried out. At a later stage, interviews were held with technical staff, project coordinators and local institutions, as well as Ciganos and their families. The purpose of using various data collection techniques is to capture the reality experienced by Cigano individuals and families, namely patterns of continuity and social change, particularly in the area of education, through triangulation between the discourses of informants and scientific knowledge already consolidated in these matters. We present a critical and reflexive interpretation of the policy orientations and achieved social rights, focusing on narratives of Ciganos, stakeholders and school representatives centred on what has changed in the school trajectories of Ciganos, in terms of continuity, success and permanence in public education.

2021Book part

Open access

Structural racism and racialization of Roma/Ciganos in Portugal: the case of secondary school students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Publication . Magano, Olga; Mendes, Maria Manuela

The aim of this article is to contribute to the analysis of the structural racism and racialization that exists in Portugal against Roma people. Racialization takes place in various dimensions of life, but we will focus here on issues of schooling and education, which were accentuated during the COVID-19 pandemic and revealed a lack of social deprotection and inequalities between Roma and non-Roma students. This analysis, focusing on the impact on young people attending secondary education, is based on a qualitative study carried out in the Metropolitan Areas of Lisbon and Porto using data from three focus groups and in-depth interviews with 33 secondary school students. Several public policies currently cover the Roma/Ciganos, but social inequality persists in terms of basic subsistence conditions and civic participation, as well as in the form of structural racism, with little Roma participation in political life and the invisibility of representation. The situation has worsened exponentially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the combination of “classic” forms of racism and discrimination and the new forms of exclusion that have also appeared. We argue that the implicit acceptance of poverty and marginalization among Roma people needs to be viewed as a component of the racialization and antigypsyism to which they are subjected, and this dimension needs to be further investigated by scientific agendas.

2021-05-31Journal article

Open access