The goal of this paper is to examine recent trends and findings from research on standards in Portugal. This paper will report on the preliminary results of the multi-country study on professional standards for teachers which has been conducted in Portugal. Data were collected through a questionnaire with teachers from pre-school to secondary school. In Portugal, the need to clarify the professional profile for teaching led to the identification of four key dimensions: professional, social and ethical dimension; development of teaching and learning; participation at school and relationship with the educational community; training and professional development in a lifelong perspective. These were defined in 2001 by the Ministry of Education. In October 2010, standards to evaluate teachers’ performance were identified at a national level based upon the four key dimensions of the professional profile. According to the legal text, the national standards aimed at contributing to guide teachers’ work, stimulating self-reflection, articulating assessment of teachers’ performance and promoting a rich and constructive debate about teacher professionalism. Standards define the key characteristics of the teaching profession and the professional tasks, identifying at the same time the nature, knowledge and demands of the teaching profession. Also, standards are a national reference to build a just and reliable mechanism to evaluate teachers and to promote their professional development. However, the national standards for teacher evaluation purposes were in place in the Portuguese context only for 2 years (2010-2012). In 2012 they were abolished and were replaced by national parameters to assess teacher performance. The main data sources are (i) the analysis of the legal framework and its implementation within the context of teacher evaluation; (ii) preliminary findings from the survey of teachers conducted in Portugal as part of the multi-country study. The main findings of this paper point to convergences and divergences in teachers’ views of the standards. Some of them are against the use of standards as they see them within a logic of control of their work. They are critical of the ways they have been defined and implemented (according to a top-down perspective) and they stress the lack of debate in schools about the use of standards and the need to pay attention to the context. Other teachers see them as a way of enhancing teacher professionalism and professional dialogue.

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