Portugal CNE Recommendation 4/2026 on AI in Education

On 4 May 2026, Portugal's Conselho Nacional de Educação (CNE — National Education Council) approved Recommendation 4/2026, published in the Diário da República on 21 May 2026, calling for a structural reconsideration of how AI changes the production, transmission and evaluation of knowledge in the Portuguese school system. It sits within Portugal's National AI Agenda 2026–2030, a EUR 400 million+ investment programme; the recommendation itself is advisory, with implementation dependent on subsequent ministerial action.

To set governance guardrails for AI in Portuguese schools: progressive integration of AI literacy into curricula from the first cycle (age 6+), framing AI as support for — not a replacement of — fundamental competencies such as reading, writing and numeracy; a binding rule that no high-impact automated decision about a student (retention, placement, final assessment) may rest exclusively on an AI system, with mandatory qualified human validation and a right of appeal; GDPR-compliant limits on tracking minors' data in school devices and apps; and creation of an independent national observatory on AI and education to monitor pedagogical, social, ethical and health impacts.