CLIL across schools in Portugal

• Autor(a) principal: Ellison, Maria
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Morgado, Margarida, Coelho, Margarida
• Tipo de documento: Livro
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://hdl.handle.net/10216/148409

In comparison with some other European countries, CLIL is not universally present in mainstream education across all levels in Portugal. CLIL is mainly known through the 'top-down' policy of the PEBI programme of the Ministry of Education and by several 'bottom-up' grassroots initiatives of CLIL implementation in schools, although the extent of CLIL practice or teacher education for CLIL has not been chartered systematically. The purpose of this chapter is to map the emerging CLIL terrain in Portuguese pre-primary, primary and secondary schools, and report on varied, relevant environments of CLIL implementation, practice, and teacher education in an effort to help CLIL teachers and teacher educators navigate what is really happening in schools. The chapter starts with a brief state-of-the-art description of CLIL activity in Portuguese schools, addressing what has been written about CLIL in schools in Portugal, followed by an exploratory study inquiring into the extent of CLIL implementation; and (2) the provision for teacher education in CLIL. Using an online questionnaire sent out to schools in Portugal and desk research on school involvement in Erasmus+ funded projects about CLIL and accredited in-service school teacher education, the chapter proceeds to present and discuss the results of the study. The chapter concludes that in relation to CLIL implementation, CLIL is not evenly distributed in geographical terms; its presence in schools is somewhat 'diluted'; there is a fluidity of communicational practices around the multi-layered uses of CLIL in relation to linguistic and sociocultural factors; and CLIL is valued by teachers as an educational and cultural resource. In relation to teacher education, the study reveals that beyond the official PEBI training and monitoring programme, European funds are used by teachers, through project development and staff training opportunities, as a means for further professional development. Having chartered the conditions and the possibilities for implementing CLIL in Portuguese schools, the authors recommend that more attention is given to developing a dynamic of training and practice across disciplinary frameworks.