A regulação da educação em Portugal: do Estado Novo à Democracia

This paper presents the major trends of the regulation of the educational system in Portugal in this long period which encompasses almost all the twentieth century and the beginning of the present century. The identifi cation of these trends is drawn from content analysis of the legal rules concerning the administration of state schools under the perspective of centralisation versus decentralisation of decision making viewed as a fundamental basis of the organisation of the State. The periods presented reveal the evolution of public policies and the conceptions about the role of the State in the regulation of Education.