The English Bilingual Schools Program will be implemented in the Azores throughout the 2025/26 school year.
Teachers will receive training next school year.
The Regional Secretary for Education, Culture and Sports said that the program, which is “voluntary for schools,” will be implemented “as a pedagogical experiment” and is aimed at “the 1st cycle of basic education in the public and private networks of the regional education system”.
According to Sofia Ribeiro, the project “has the general principle of teaching 30% of students’ weekly workload in English” and covers English, Environmental Studies, Art Education, and Physical Education.
“We’re talking about curricular components that are strongly based on practice, which enhance interaction and communication between students and therefore facilitate the entry of a foreign language into the classroom,” he added.
The program, recently presented at an event with 166 teachers from Azorean schools, is a collaboration of the British Council and originates from the Ministry of Education’s English Bilingual Schools Program.
Bilingual education in English has been implemented in 38 establishments, covering around 4,600 pre-school and elementary school pupils. Another 14 schools want to join the program.

in Diário Insular-José Lpourenço, director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.