The importance of school rankings, of valuing teachers and a new manifesto for Science. What does the new Minister of Education think

It was one of the names that caused surprise after the announcement of the Government’s organization that takes office this Tuesday. Fernando Alexandre, until now associate professor at the School of Economics and Management at the University of Minho, vice-president of the Economic and Social Council and consultant at the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation (FFMS) was not on the lists of ministers for Education, nor little was recognized in the field for the positions he might have in this area. On television and in newspapers, particularly in Observador, where he was a columnist, he has reflected mainly on the Portuguese economy, models of development and productivity, with criticisms and barbs towards the previous executive.

But the topic of Education was also the subject of some considerations by Fernando Alexandre. Not about pedagogy, curricular organization, student assessment or school management, but above all around the importance of having a quality public system, capable of reducing socioeconomic inequalities of origin and ensuring that the enormous increase in qualifications that has occurred in the country in recent decades has had an equivalent increase in productivity, which has not happened.

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