Access To the Profession of Early Years Educator and Teacher: Student Profiles in Angola and Portugal

Abstract Book of the 10th World Conference on Teaching and Education

Year: 2026

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Access To the Profession of Early Years Educator and Teacher: Student Profiles in Angola and Portugal

Dr. Micaela Fonseca, Dulce Franco Universidade Lusófona, Instituto Politécnico da Lusofonia, CeiED, Portugal Esmeralda Santo Universidade Lusófona Joana Quinta ISCED-Benguela, Angola Maria Neves Gonçalves Instituto Politécnico da Lusofonia, Portugal

ABSTRACT:

In Portugal, according to the latest EDULOG study (2025), the shortage of nursery school teachers and teachers with professional qualifications is set to become more acute as early as 2026. Several studies (2021, 2024, 2025) have identified a gap between the number of teachers available with adequate scientific and pedagogical training and the number required by the Portuguese education system. The current Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) has implemented various measures to make the teaching profession more attractive, to encourage teachers to remain in remote areas and to attract new students to initial teacher training programmes. Against this backdrop, we wanted to find out whether this problem is similar in Angola. To this end, the aim of this paper is to examine and compare the profile of students entering higher education (HE) on teacher training programmes in Portugal and Angola. To carry out this research, we designed, validated and administered an online questionnaire containing both open-ended and closed-ended questions to students on the CTeSP course in Child and Youth Support, the Bachelor’s degree in Basic Education at a private higher education institution in Lisbon, and the Bachelor’s degree in Pedagogy at a public higher education institution in Benguela. This is a purposive sample, and the conclusions of this study are still very preliminary. The research reveals similarities between the profiles of respondents in both countries (the majority are young people aged between 18 and 23, who have completed secondary education, and whose choice of degree course was driven more by personal interest and employability prospects than by institutional prestige or family influence). The socio-economic profile in both regions is diverse (in Benguela, parents are teachers, farmers, police officers, electricians, machine operators, etc.); in Lisbon, the majority of students come from middle-class or working-class family backgrounds (technical, operational and service professions). The most significant differences appear to be (i) perceptions regarding work placements (Portuguese students acknowledge the existence of work placement opportunities, whereas Angolan students regard work placements as a weakness of the course they are studying; and (ii) perceptions regarding further study (respondents in Lisbon mentioned only bachelor’s and master’s degrees, whilst respondents in Benguela mentioned master’s and doctoral degrees). We emphasise that this is still a very small sample, and further research in this area is required; consequently, this study forms part of a broader project.

Keywords: CTeSP in Child and Youth Support; Bachelor’s Degree in Primary Education; Bachelor’s Degree in Pedagogy