Partnerships between School and Community in Portugal: An Analysis based on External Evaluation of Schools

The article examines the partnership between school and community in Portugal, analyzing them based on the external evaluations to which schools are subjected. The main goals are to understand the importance attributed to the establishment of partnerships between schools and communities outline the areas of privileged partnerships and evaluate the generated effects. To this effect 52 external evaluation reports were analyzed, representing 20.8% of total school districts as of 2012 and 2013 in the North and Center of Portugal and 60% of schools evaluated in these years. The data leads to the conclusion that, among other aspects, most schools/school groups present a high number of partnerships with local institutions and that they can certainly provide enriching dynamics in learning and overall upbringing of students.