Between State and market: education public policy in Portugal

Abstract

The changing balance between State and market is one of the main friction points in current debates about the welfare-state and in public policies, namely in the education field. Redefining the State’s role in financing, regulation and provision of public services is at the core of education policy in the last decades.
This text aims to map the state of the art concerning the State’s role in education and the main contemporary debates in education policies. A periodization of education policies in the context of the relation between the State and the private and social sectors is also attempted.
Finally, data concerning the situation of the private and social sector in Portugal and the evaluation of policies concerning parent’s freedom of choice of school and its relation with equality and learning quality are presented.