Literacy is earned through fun, provocation and stimulation’

About 40% of adults in Portugal can only understand simple texts and solve basic arithmetic problems, according to an Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study from 2023, comparing 160.000 people in 31 countries. Only Chileans turned out to have more difficulties in interpreting texts or performing mathematical calculations.

The study shows that 15% of the more than 3000 Portuguese participants are able to understand short and simple sentences and that another 27% understand short texts. Thus, 42% of the population – representing 6.6 million people between 16 and 65 years old – has a very low level of literacy.

Four out of ten adults can only do basic calculations with whole numbers. They do understand the meaning of decimal places and can add and subtract small numbers but they have difficulties in understanding rates and ratios and calculate proportions.

Another area analyzed was problemsolving, in which over 40% of the Portuguese obtained very low results as they could only solve simple problems with few variables and little accessory information.

Researchers point out that adults with better numeracy skills are more likely to be employed, earn higher wages and are more satisfied with their lives than low-skilled people. ‘However, despite efforts of governments to strengthen adult education, the survey reveals a very unequal picture of skills with a growing number of people poorly prepared for the future’, warns Andreas Schleicher, OECD director of Education and Skills.

In the last decade, only Finland and Denmark have recorded significant improvements in adult literacy, while the other participant nations recorded stagnation or decline.

The skills of Portuguese adults in literacy, numeracy and problem solving already begins to decrease from the age of 25 whereas the youngest adults – those between 16 and 24 years old – have the greatest capacities in the three areas, before dropping considerably and reaching minimums in older adults between 55 and 65 years old.

‘But surprisingly – unlike other European countries – this proficiency already drops considerably in the group of 25-34 years, whereas in most countries the top of skills is in the group of adults between 25 and 34 years’, highlights João Queirós, one of the national coordinators of the study.

Reasons might be the relative high rate of school dropout as well as difficulties in access to higher education.

Another worrying fact is that adults with higher education in Portugal obtained lower results than adults with secondary education in Finland. The value of the university degree differs between countries because it is also related to the quality of education.

‘We need to understand why in some countries students are acquiring training without the necessary skills’, says Claudia Tamassia of PIAAC (OECD’s Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies).

Her observation is shared by the National Education Council (CNE). ‘It is necessary to innovate in teaching and assessment practices and environments in which students are challenged to critical thinking, to be autonomous and to be able to integrate knowledge and skills’, declared its president Domingos Fernandes recently.

Enjoy your week          Approveite a semana               (Pic Público/Sapo)       






Porcelain is essentially made of kaolin, sand and the mineral feldspar’

Vista Alegre – the country’s most famous porcelain brand – celebrates its 200th anniversary.
The factory in Ílhavo, founded in 1824 by José Ferreira Pinto Basto, has remained relevant for two centuries thanks to its quality, ability to reinvent itself and focus on the future.
 

An exhibition celebrating the bicentennial can be found in the Ajuda palace in Lisbon, where even today tableware from Vista Alegre is used in state dinners. ‘We not only want to show the finished products, that represent the history of Vista Alegre, but also elements from the factory itself, such as the carts in which the pieces are waiting to go into the oven or the moulds’, says Filipa Oliveira, who shares with Anísio Franco the curatorship.
  

‘Many Portuguese have a close relationship with Vista Alegre porcelain because it passed through their homes’ argues Anísio Franco, warning future visitors about the possibility that there are few pieces they will recognize.

The Vista Alegre factory initially began by manufacturing utilitarian objects in glass, such as jars and bowls but always with a quality that can be seen in the execution and decoration. In 1880 it discontinues glass production and starts dedicating itself exclusively to the manufacturing of porcelain, of greater importance to the national industry.

The first pieces were of imperfect soft paste porcelain, called ‘stone powder’ crockery. To produce high-quality porcelain, a clay capable of supporting the fusion of components was essential: kaolin. In 1832 a white clay – until that time used to whitewash homes – was accidentally discovered that later proved to be the sought-after kaolin.

The factory then hires specialized craftsman and accomplished painters and the factory establishes itself in the 19th century as a producer of true porcelain executed to tremendous perfection. Victor Rousseau, a prestigious French draftsman and painter who was exiled in England, is hired and gives the factory its own directive. He founds the factory’s first School of Painting responsible for teaching generations of masters to uphold the high level of artistry.

‘It is very important to know the genealogy of the masters of Vista Alegre to perceive each production period (f.e. neoclassical forms or already romanticism)’, says Anísio Franco. ‘Each one brought knowledge and taste of their own that marked what came out of the factory.’

In the 80s, a partnership with the businesswoman and collector Mildred Mottahedeh gives Vista Alegre access to the North American market, allowing the company to make pieces for the White House and the Rockefeller family.

This year, Portugal’s most famous player in the history of football– Christano Ronaldo – bought 10% of the capital of Vista Alegre with the aim of extending the company in the Middle East, where Ronaldo is playing nowadays.

The turnover of Vista Alegre in 2023 amounted to 130 million euros.
Seventy percent of the production is exported, especially to Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the US and Brazil.

The exhibition brings together 400 pieces and can be seen at the Ajuda Palace in Lisbon, until May 31.

Enjoy the week                                        Aproveite a semana