Migrant Pupils Keep Portugal’s Classrooms Open, Yet Half Face Bias

Young migrants keep Portuguese classrooms alive with new languages, accents and life stories, yet more than half say school is the very place where they feel pushed to the margins. A fresh investigation led by social-science researchers in Lisbon reveals that discrimination, often subtle, often blatant, remains a daily hurdle for children whose families arrived from abroad. The study’s findings – together with recently announced government initiatives – raise an uncomfortable question for Portugal: are we equipping the next generation to thrive in the country they already call home?

Why this conversation matters now

Portugal’s public debate has turned sharply toward immigration in recent years as record numbers of foreign pupils enter basic and secondary education. Classrooms that would have closed due to demographic decline are staying open thanks to new arrivals, but inclusion has not kept pace with enrolment. The latest survey, carried out in 9 schools across Lisbon, Amadora and Sintra, shows that 55.7% of students with an immigrant background have felt some form of prejudice at school; among first-generation children the share jumps to 70.6%. Those figures arrive just as the Ministry of Education rolls out extra cultural mediators, simplified credential recognition and a final push under the National Plan to Combat Racism and Discrimination.

A portrait painted by numbers

Sample size: 935 pupils interviewed over the last two academic years.

Main finding: more than one in two immigrant-origin students report discriminatory experiences.

Top three motives cited:

Physical traits and appearance (30.4%)

Skin colour (24.2%)

Country or region of origin (19.1%)

Who discriminates? Peers are the main source (46.6%), but teachers appear in 35% of complaints and support staff in 10.9%.

These numbers highlight a crucial point: bias is not confined to playground banter; it often carries institutional weight when adults are involved.

Voices from the corridors

Researchers heard stories of Brazilian teenagers mocked for their accent, African pupils told to "speak better Portuguese" in front of the class, and Eastern-European children steered away from advanced maths groups. Although the study anonymised personal details, its qualitative notes suggest micro-aggressions accumulate into a perception of not belonging, especially for those who arrived during adolescence.

Psychiatric nurse João Marques warns that "second-generation youths can feel suspended between two worlds," leading to heightened anxiety, disengagement and early school leaving. The Order of Portuguese Psychologists is lobbying for routine mental-health screening in schools where immigrant enrolment tops 20%.

Government action: promising but partial

The Education Ministry has highlighted five flagship measures:

• 319 schools authorised to hire cultural mediators who speak the languages of new student communities.

• Fast-track equivalency rules allowing head teachers to place children in the correct year even without complete foreign transcripts.

• Expansion of Portuguese as a Non-Native Language (PLNM) classes, though demand still outstrips supply.

• Ongoing National Plan to Combat Racism and Discrimination, which ends this year and will be revised.

• A broader immigration-policy reform that combines tighter border management with what officials call a "humanist integration model".

Advocates welcome the toolbox but stress that monitoring remains weak. Without a nationwide reporting mechanism, schools rely on local goodwill to track incidents.

Structural hurdles beyond prejudice

Data from the OECD’s PISA 2022 confirm a sizeable attainment gap: immigrant students in Portugal scored 20 points lower in maths than their native peers, four times the average OECD gap. Add language barriers, lower participation in extracurriculars and scant representation in student councils and the picture becomes clear – discrimination interacts with socio-economic disadvantage to limit opportunity.

What experts recommend next

Education sociologist Sílvia de Almeida, who coordinated the new study, argues that Portugal must move from patchy projects to a systemic approach. Specialists suggest:

– Compulsory intercultural training for all educators, not only volunteers.– Annual publication of discrimination statistics at school-cluster level.– Stronger family-school partnerships, especially for parents unfamiliar with Portuguese bureaucracy.– Incentives for diverse hiring, so teaching staff better mirror student demographics.

The bigger picture

Portugal’s ageing population needs young workers, and migrant families are filling that demographic vacuum. If half of those children carry memories of exclusion, the long-term social cost could dwarf today’s budget for inclusion programmes. The study’s authors emphasise that schools are not merely sites of learning; they are laboratories where the country’s multicultural future is being forged – or fractured.

Key insights at a glance

– 55.7% of immigrant pupils feel discriminated against; 70.6% for first-generation.– Peers, teachers and staff all play a role in perpetuating bias.– Appearance, skin colour and origin rank as the most cited triggers.– Government has launched mediators, fast-track enrolment and anti-racism plans, but monitoring gaps persist.– Experts call for system-wide data collection, mandatory training and mental-health support.

The question that remains is straightforward: will Portugal seize this moment to turn multicultural classrooms into engines of inclusion, or watch inequity sow resentment among the very students who could revitalise the nation?