The ongoing struggle with the National Association of Municipalities for better classroom conditions has seen months without a response. As a result, the National Union of Teachers Licensed by Polytechnics and Universities (SPLIU) is now urging immediate intervention from the Ministry of Education.
The SPLIU today highlighted the conditions under which many students took the 12th-grade math exam on Monday, a day when temperatures soared above 40 degrees Celsius, particularly in inland municipalities. By 9:30 am, when the exams commenced, temperatures in several locations had already exceeded 30 degrees, the union warned.
Early in the morning, “the heat in the classrooms was around 35 degrees Celsius, conditions that are objectively unsuitable for an exam requiring extreme concentration and effort,” criticized the union in a statement issued to the media.
The SPLIU stated that at the end of May it warned the president of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) about the lack of favorable conditions, particularly in inland regions, due to “the evident absence of investment in classroom air conditioning, which compromises learning and academic results at a crucial time for summative assessments.”
With no response from the ANMP, teachers are now seeking assistance from the Minister of Education, Fernando Alexandre, to initiate renovations in time to prevent a recurrence at the end of the next academic year.
The SPLIU recalled studies showing the impact of classroom conditions on learning: “It is scientifically proven that factors such as school furniture layout, decoration, and especially lighting, ventilation, thermal comfort, and air quality decisively influence student attitudes and behaviors in the classroom, subsequently fostering a conducive environment for educational success,” the union wrote in a statement.
The union also mentioned experiences with technological devices for implementing smart classrooms that improved student outcomes but acknowledged that “in a country with limited resources,” the Ministry of Education might prefer to invest “in insulation, protection against sunlight, regulation of brightness, and air conditioning in classrooms.”
The first phase of national exams runs from June 17 to 30, with the second phase scheduled for July 17 to 24.
The results of the first phase will be announced on July 15.
