Portugal's draft AI rules for schools bar autonomous pupil use before 5th grade
The education ministry's guidelines keep pre-schoolers from using AI on their own and reserve autonomous pupil use for the second cycle. The final version is due in schools from 4 January 2027.
Draft guidelines and their timetable
Portugal's Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) published guidelines on the "responsible use" of artificial intelligence (AI) in public and private schools on Thursday, 15 October 2026. The document, titled "Inteligência Artificial na Educação", was opened to a 30-day public consultation through the Institute for Education, Quality and Evaluation (EduQA) and covers pre-school, basic and secondary education. The final version is due to reach schools from 4 January 2027. The ministry's central principle is that AI should enter teaching only where it widens learning, participation and creation, without weakening pupils' intellectual autonomy, teachers' pedagogical responsibility or equal access to education.
- Guidelines put to a 30-day public consultation through EduQA
- Minister Fernando Alexandre says the guidelines are not binding
- Final version due to reach schools
Age limits for pupils
Pre-school children should not use AI tools directly or on their own, and personal accounts should not be created for them. Educators may use the tools as support for their own work. In the first cycle, teachers may run bounded exploration activities, but pupils may not use AI autonomously. From the second cycle, which covers fifth and sixth grades, pupils take on progressive responsibility for AI in schoolwork. Before the age of 13, those activities should not depend on personal accounts, and using AI tools requires prior authorization from parents or guardians.
Teachers set the conditions
Before introducing AI, teachers must check whether it adds educational value over alternatives without the technology, and whether pupils keep thinking, creating, explaining and deciding for themselves. Each activity gets its conditions fixed in advance on a traffic-light scheme with three modes. In "sem IA" (no AI), pupils work unaided so the teacher can observe their independent performance. In "IA de apoio" (supporting AI), tools are allowed only for the purposes and stages the teacher defines, while in "IA integrada" AI forms part of the task itself or becomes the object of analysis. If a teacher doubts how a pupil used AI, automatic detection tools may be used, but the teacher must first hear the pupil's account of the process and review drafts and other evidence before applying misuse procedures.
The ministry frames the aim in these terms:
promote a critical and responsible relationship with technology and not dependence on automated answers.
Risks and the minister's view
The document names risks to prevent in privacy, security, equity, authorship and the integrity of schoolwork. Speaking to Lusa on Friday, 16 October, on the sidelines of a world conference on vocational and technical education in Tianjin, China, Education Minister Fernando Alexandre said the texts are guidance rather than binding rules. He added that the guidelines stress adapting to new applications as they appear.
One of the messages in the guidelines is precisely the capacity to adapt to the new applications that keep emerging.
The minister said the introduction of new tools must be accompanied by rules and an assessment of their benefits. He cited the regulation of mobile phone use in schools as an example. He also pointed to the reduction in digital textbook use over the past two years, which he attributed to weak evidence of their benefit.
Consultation and next steps
The outline has been presented to the Council of Schools and to associations representing public and private school directors. The ministry has also asked the OECD for an opinion on the document. The text remains open to comment for 30 days, so it may still change before the final version reaches schools from 4 January 2027.
