Dead teacher summoned to mark national exams

Portugal’s troubled first nationwide rollout of digital exam marking has descended further into controversy, with reports that a dead teacher was ‘summoned out of retirement’ to mark national examinations, alongside numerous other administrative and technical errors that teachers warn could compromise the very integrity of this year’s results.

The latest revelations follow mounting criticism from teachers’ unions and education groups over delays and technical failures in the new digital correction system, which has already prompted the National Federation of Teachers (FENPROF) to accuse the Ministry of Education of trying to evade responsibility for what it sees as “chaos”.

According to reports by CNN Portugal, one of the most striking cases involved a teacher from Figueira da Foz who retired last December and has since died but was nevertheless called upon to mark Physics and Chemistry examinations.

Elsewhere, a teacher of Portuguese in Oliveira de Azeméis was assigned exam papers in Economics, while a Geography teacher in Lisbon received French examinations to correct.

Retired teachers have also reportedly been included on examiner lists across the country, while, in some subjects, teachers say no markers have yet been appointed, despite the exams already having taken place.

These cases have been highlighted by the public education campaign group Missão Escola Pública (MEP) and teacher and author António Carlos Cortez, who has encouraged educators to report irregularities.

Teachers have also reported significant problems with the digital marking platform itself.

According to Cortez, Portuguese exam markers have found answers that appear incomplete because subsequent pages are missing – despite clear indications that students continued writing.

Other reports describe continuation pages being attached to the wrong candidate’s script, while teachers say examination responses sometimes appear and disappear from the platform without explanation.

“It is unacceptable for teachers who have never taught a subject to be appointed as examiners,” Cortez told CNN Portugal. “Even if they follow the marking criteria, they lack the subject knowledge needed to validate answers.

“Cases of incomplete digital scanning are equally unacceptable. These problems seriously undermine the rigour and quality of the marking process and students could be severely disadvantaged.”

Cristina Mota, representing Missão Escola Pública, confirmed the complaints, saying teachers have reported incomplete scans, mismatched pages and unreliable access to examination scripts.

Schools reject ministry’s explanation

The controversy intensified after the Ministry of Education, through the National Examinations Jury (JNE), said schools were responsible for providing accurate information about teachers’ availability, retirements and medical leave, arguing that the quality of school data determined the accuracy of examiner appointments.

That explanation has been firmly rejected by the National Association of Public School Directors (ANDAEP).

In a statement cited by CNN Portugal, the association said schools had completed all required preparations within the prescribed deadlines and argued that the problems stemmed from the technological and organisational management of the new digital system.

“It is not acceptable to transfer responsibilities to schools that clearly do not belong to them,” said the association, calling instead for greater technical support and improved communication.

FENPROF echoed criticisms on Sunday, saying it continues to receive reports of teachers being assigned to schools where they no longer work, retired staff being called back to mark exams and teachers allocated subjects they have never taught.

“The blame obviously cannot be placed on schools or teachers,” Mota told CNN Portugal. “Schools have managed examination marking for many years without problems. If there are problems this year, it is because something has changed — and it wasn’t the teachers.”

Cortez agrees, accusing the ministry of trying to “pass the buck”.

“There were no problems before because there was no digitalisation of the exams,” he said simply. “The most fundamental mistake was imposing a digital system for which the country simply was not prepared.”

Teachers urged to refuse responsibility

Citing what it called the seriousness of the reported failures, Missão Escola Pública has urged exam markers to consider invoking the legal mechanism of “Refusal of Responsibility” under Article 177 of Portugal’s General Labour Law for Public Functions if they believe conditions do not allow them to produce accurate, transparent and technically reliable assessments.

The organisation has published a template letter for teachers wishing to submit such declarations.

Teachers also question whether the correction timetable remains achievable. More than 3,000 examination papers must be marked by July 10 to allow results to be published on July 14.

“It’s impossible,” said Cortez, predicting the Ministry of Education will ultimately have to intervene in the grading process to offset what he describes as the “fiasco” of digital marking.

The SOS Escola Pública movement, which has launched its own platform to collect complaints, warns that teachers could face excessive workloads to meet official deadlines and suggests some educators may even have to postpone planned holidays in order to complete the examination process before preparations begin for the next school year.

All in all, this is a bitter cherry on a cake of very dubious quality under the auspices of education minister Fernando Alexandre, who has essentially staggered from one crisis to the next during his tenure, upsetting countless people (parents, schools and pupils) along the way.

Sources: CNN Portugal; Missão Escola Pública (MEP); SOS Escola Pública; FENPROF