Homeschooling in Portugal:

Homeschooling in Portugal is growing

Across Europe, more and more families are choosing to educate their children from home — for the flexibility, for travel, for wellbeing, or simply because it fits their child better than a traditional classroom.

In Portugal, educating your child from home — known locally as Ensino doméstico (and ensino individual) — comes with its own rules, which we walk through below. Increasingly, families meet them by enrolling in an accredited online school, so their child still gets live teaching, structure, and real friendships.

If you’re exploring your options, here’s what you need to know — and how bina can help if you’d rather not figure it all out on your own.

Is schooling from home legal in Portugal?

Yes. Home education is a recognised, formally regulated option in Portugal under Decreto-Lei n.º 70/2021. The law sets out two routes: ensino doméstico, where a family member or someone living in the household teaches the child, and ensino individual, where a single qualified teacher does. Either way the child stays inside compulsory education — these are officially sanctioned ways of meeting it, not an exemption from it.

Portugal's regime is more structured than some neighbours. For ensino doméstico the responsible educator must hold at least a bachelor's degree (licenciatura); for ensino individual the teacher must be qualified to teach under current legislation. The family signs a collaboration protocol with a state "host school" (escola de acolhimento), follows the national curriculum aligned to the Student Profile, and Portuguese is the language of schooling (a partly bilingual approach is possible where the host school agrees).

Progress is monitored by a teacher-tutor at the host school through a portfolio and at least one in-person session a year, timed around the end of the school year. The child sits equivalence exams (provas de equivalência à frequência) at the end of each cycle of basic education — 4th, 6th and 9th grade, with final national exams at 9th grade — plus national or equivalence exams at secondary level. This keeps the qualification fully recognised within the Portuguese system.

What are the steps to school from home in Portugal?

1. Confirm who will be the responsible educator — For ensino doméstico, a parent or household member with at least a bachelor's degree (licenciatura) registers as the educator; for ensino individual a qualified teacher takes that role. A foreign degree usually needs formal recognition in Portugal, so start that process early.
2. Choose a host school and apply — Submit a written request to the director of a state school (normally the one for your area of residence that offers the level you need) to enrol the child in ensino doméstico or individual. The school then holds an interview with the child and guardian before completing the enrolment.
3. Sign the collaboration protocol — You agree a protocol with the escola de acolhimento, usually for one school year and renewable. It covers curriculum management aligned to the national Student Profile, how progress is monitored (including at least one in-person session near year-end), and how assessment and exams will work.
4. Run the school year — this is where bina fits — Deliver the curriculum day to day. Many families use an accredited online school such as bina for live teaching, structure and a full programme, then map its work to the Portuguese curriculum and keep the portfolio the host school requires.
5. Complete monitoring and sit the official assessments — Send the portfolio to the teacher-tutor on the agreed schedule, attend the meeting to discuss it, and have the child sit the equivalence exams at the end of each basic-education cycle (4th, 6th, 9th) plus national/equivalence exams at secondary, so the level is formally certified.

An accredited online school like bina makes much of this simpler: we provide the curriculum, the live teaching, and the progress records your authority may ask to see — so you can focus on being the parent.