Schools in Portugal: Public, Private, International (US, UK)

Portuguese schools follow one national structure, and the duty to enroll your child can be met in a public, private or cooperative school. A private school needs an operating authorization from the Ministry of Education, and a school that wants to teach a foreign curriculum has its file sent to the Directorate-General for Education for an opinion.

This guide explains how the system is organized, for American and British families alike. It is a reading of official pages, not legal advice. We read the European Commission’s Eurydice description of the Portuguese system (the pages updated 18 to 20 March 2026), the Ministry of Education’s pages on private and cooperative education, the Directorate-General for Education (DGE) FAQ on foreign qualifications and Despacho 8368/2024 on Diário da República, on 19 October 2026. The newest dated item is the Eurydice page on school organization, last updated 20 March 2026, which points to the calendar despacho of July 2024 as the one in force. Enrolment itself, with its portal, dates and documents, is in our guide to enrolling a child in school in Portugal.

How is schooling organized, and at what ages?

Eurydice describes pre-school education as optional for children from three to six years old, followed by basic education in three sequential cycles and then upper secondary education. The ages below are the “expected attendance ages” given by Eurydice.

Children and young people aged 6 to 18 are of school age. Compulsory schooling ends with a secondary-level qualification or, with or without one, in the school year the pupil turns 18. Initial enrolment in the first year of basic education is compulsory for children aged six by 15 September; a child who turns six between 16 September and 31 December may be admitted at the parents’ request, depending on places. Entry to the second and third cycles depends on having completed the previous cycle or holding an equivalent qualification.

Upper secondary offers five types of course according to Eurydice: science-humanities, vocational, specialized artistic, own-school-curriculum and apprenticeship courses. Which one suits a teenager arriving from the US or the UK is a question for the school, and the equivalence of foreign years is covered in the enrolment guide.

What does the public network offer?

Eurydice states that public education is free, with no enrolment fees and no payment necessary for activities related to school attendance and issuing of certificates. Several supports are described in the same page:

• Textbooks: free for all pupils in compulsory education at state schools or at establishments with a partnership agreement, as vouchers on the MEGA platform that can be exchanged at participating bookshops. Books are mostly reused and returned at year end, except in primary schools. Worksheets and other materials are generally paid for by families.
• Transport: municipalities are responsible for transport between home and school for all pupils in compulsory education.
• School pass: since 1 January 2024, children and young people aged 4 to 18 enrolled in a national educational establishment have access to a free school pass, under Ordinance 7-A/2024.
• Income-based help: school transport, meals, textbooks and learning equipment can be subsidized for underprivileged families, according to criteria based on family income. Eurydice adds that this social support extends to upper secondary education only for students with special educational needs.

We did not read the income thresholds or the application steps for the school social action help, so ask the school or the municipality. For the children’s health cover that comes with living here, see our guide to healthcare access for newcomers.

What are private and cooperative schools, and who authorizes them?

Eurydice says that Law 9/79 placed private and cooperative education on an equal footing with public education, and that the current Statute is Decree-Law 152/2013 of 4 November. In non-higher private and cooperative education the State guarantees the freedom to create and operate such schools and the quality of teaching, and keeps duties of its own. The Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, according to the page, approves the creation of private and cooperative schools, authorizes their operation, supervises their regular operation and assesses the pedagogical and scientific quality of teaching.

The ministry’s own page on the topic describes the authorization step. The entity applies to one of the five regional directorates of DGEstE, the files are checked by the ministry’s private and cooperative education services, and the decision follows. A provisional authorization that becomes definitive leads to a definitive operating authorization sent to the school. We did not find, on a page we read, the fee level of any private school, and this guide does not give one.

Two other facts from Eurydice matter to a parent. First, private and cooperative schools have pedagogical, administrative and financial autonomy in their educational project. That covers the curricular project, methods, assessment within the national rules for external assessment and final assessment, the issue of enrolment and certificates, and the school calendar and timetables. Second, they must respect the total instruction time officially set for each year, cycle and type of education.

Some private schools have contracts with the State. Eurydice lists five types:

The ministry page confirms that simple and development contracts channel financial support to families, and that association contracts aim to make attendance possible under conditions identical to those of public schools. Whether a school near you holds such a contract is a question for the school or the regional DGEstE office.

How is an international or foreign-curriculum school recognized?

We found no single official page that sets out one “international school” status. What the pages say is this.

On authorization, the ministry page states that when an entity asks for an operating authorization with foreign curricula, the file is also sent to the DGE for an opinion. A private school that asks to operate with a foreign curriculum therefore goes through this route, with that additional step.

On the qualifications it issues, the DGE FAQ on foreign qualifications says the DGE is competent for qualifications from foreign schools based in Portugal, from private and cooperative establishments offering international study programs that hold an operating authorization from the Portuguese Ministry of Education, and from international schools based in third countries. It also names qualifications certified by the International Baccalaureate Organisation and by Cambridge Assessment International Education. The enrolment guide explains how an equivalence request works.

What we cannot say from official pages: which international schools exist, which curricula each teaches, whether a given school is recognized for a US or UK diploma, and what it costs. Check a school’s operating authorization with the school and with the ministry before you pay a deposit.

How is the school year set?

According to Eurydice, citing Decree-Law 55/2018, the school year runs from 1 September to 31 August of the following year and lasts a minimum of 180 days. The calendar for public pre-primary, basic and upper secondary schools, and for private special education schools, is published by despacho. For the school years 2024/2025 to 2027/2028, Despacho 8368/2024 of 25 July, in its current wording, is in effect, and schools may divide the year into two semesters and adjust breaks to that end.

We read Despacho 8368/2024 itself on Diário da República on 19 October 2026. Its annex I gives these class periods for the 2026-2027 school year in public schools:

Annex II gives the breaks: 16 to 31 December 2026, 8 to 10 February 2027 and 22 March to 2 April 2027. Diário da República lists one amendment of this despacho, Despacho 9989/2025 of 21 August 2025, which rewrites annex II. Its text only shows the rows for 2025-2026, but check the school’s own calendar for any change to the breaks.

For a family arriving mid-year, two points from the pages we read. Public schools follow the despacho. Private and cooperative schools hold the calendar and the timetable within their own autonomy, so an international school’s year may not match the national one, and the school will tell you its dates. For a child arriving from a US or UK school, our enrolment guide covers enrolment outside the normal periods.

What about children under six?

Eurydice says public financial support granted to childcare establishments for under-threes (creche) is the responsibility of the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security. In the private for-profit network, including private and cooperative schools, pre-school funding rests on monthly fees paid by families, who may get help under family support contracts and depending on income. We keep the creche and pre-school routes for a separate guide.

Where should I go next?

Choose the area first, since the school network follows the address: our guide to where to live in Portugal helps with that, and the first-year checklist places school enrolment among the other tasks.

For children under school age, see daycare and preschool in Portugal, and for the whole family move, moving to Portugal with children.

What we read, and what we did not

We read on 19 October 2026: four Eurydice pages on Portugal (organization of the education system and its structure, private education, single-structure primary and lower secondary education, and early childhood and school education funding), the ministry page on private and cooperative education (DGAE), and the DGE FAQ on foreign qualifications. We read Despacho 8368/2024 on Diário da República, but not the text of Decree-Law 152/2013 or Decree-Law 55/2018, so the points taken from those two rest on Eurydice’s description and the ministry page. We did not read private school fees, an official list of international schools, the school social action thresholds, or the text of Despacho 9989/2025.