EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF ADULTS IN ALENTEJO PORTUGAL: PAST AND PRESENT OF AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

Abstract

The History of Education and Training of Adults in Alentejo / Portugal, is not recent. We can go back to the 70's, even before the Revolution of April 25, 1974. At the time, approximately 30% of the Portuguese population could neither read nor write. After 1974 the new political regime created a government office (Directorate General of Permanent Education / DGEP) with the responsibility of defining and implementing actions of adult education. Some universities, at the time, understood the importance of this area and followed this movement: as was the case with the University of Évora and the University of Minho. In Alentejo the University of Évora, imbued by the role of community service, decided in 1979, to promote the Awareness and Start Adult Education and Training Course, organized in the Division of Education and Pedagogy. At the time, the Évora's Academy Adult Education Project was coordinated by Prof. Manuel Ferreira Patrício. The main objective of this project, was to contribute to the implementation of measures in the area of literacy and basic education of adults, following what was defined in the law 3/79 of January 10, statute that gave the government of this time the responsibility of implementing the National Plan for Literacy and Base Education of Adults.