The former director of the assessment programme, Nuno Crato, expressed himself against the new essential learning outcomes, considering they should be "quickly repealed". Crato, who was education minister, believes that Portugal needs urgent changes in the educational system to recover its international results.
According to the former government official, the only way to return to good results is through rigor. Crato emphasized curriculum, assessment, and cognitive support as fundamental elements for Portugal to climb in the Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA.
Crato's statements come in a context of debate about the quality of the Portuguese education system and its rankings in international education rankings. PISA is one of the main instruments for comparing school performance between countries.
