Since the 74 Portuguese Revolution, policies associated with the promotion of school success and education improvement were implemented and justified based on social justice principles. One of these policy measures was the TEIP program - Educational Territories of Priority Intervention (like French ZEP). This policy implies the promotion of innovation through the identification of local problems, namely, for schools in territories/regions characterized by poverty and social exclusion where dropout and school failure are more evident; and mandatory schools' self-evaluation processes (Law 147-B/ME/96). Some of these TEIP schools are located in Portugal's border regions which already suffer from structural inequalities as well as unequal access to local services, education prospects, and job opportunities. These regions have high levels of school underachievement and high rates of illiteracy when compared with coastal territories. Moreover, due to regional inequalities and depopulation, the National Program for Territorial Cohesion (2018) was created based on the need to provide equitable services and access justified as an important issue in terms of social justice between different territories.

In fact, border regions have additional challenges that may print specificities to local policy developments in addition to the heterogeneity of border regions themselves. In 2023, 146 school clusters are included in the TEIP program and, in addition, 10 of them are in border regions (Mogadouro, Freixo de Espada à Cinta, Idanha-a-Nova, Castelo Branco, Portalegre, Serpa, Elvas, Mourão, Moura and Vila Real de Santo António). The social and demographic scenario regarding Portuguese border regions illustrates striking opportunity inequalities for young people living in these regions (Silva, 2014) and this is why addressing these issues is a matter of social and educational justice (Sampaio, Faria & Silva, 2023). Fraser (2001, 2008) states that social justice results from a dualistic dynamic between recognition and redistribution that, idealistically, should be balanced. Whilst redistribution seeks a more equal distribution of material resources, recognition calls for institutionalized cultural values that express equal respect for all actors, thus ensuring equal opportunities for social recognition (Fraser, 2008). Taken the portrait of the Portuguese border regions, this dynamic is undermined as the struggle for recognition occurs in a context characterized by countless inequalities that may be material, also demanding redistribution, considering the lower incomes and limited access to employment; but also, the symbolic demand for recognition of identity differences linked to geographical, historical and cultural context (Sampaio, Faria e Silva, 2023).

Indeed, as youth transitions are generally accepted to have become more protracted, heterogeneous, complex, and non-linear over time (Furlong et al., 2019; Sanderson, 2020), young people face new opportunities and risks, where social structures continue to shape life experiences opportunities (Furlong et al., 2019). There is also growing evidence that young people from these regions value the role of school in their pathways (Silva, 2014). Some authors even consider that the resilience of schools as organizations may positively influence the students’ education path quality (Ungar, 2012; Whitney, Maras & Schisler, 2012) despite being in unequal conditions compared with others. Additionally, previous works (Sampaio & Leite, 2015; Sampaio, 2018) showed that social justice inside the TEIP program is related to schools' self-evaluation processes. So, if schools play a fundamental role in building a social justice ideal, it is then essential to pay attention to how schools are mediated by politics, power, and ideology, as well as the contradictions among them. Given this, can schools’ self-evaluation promote social justice inside these TEIP schools and, at the same time, make schools more resilient? This is the guiding question of this paper.

The data analysed in this paper is grounded on a large-scale study on resilience, engagement, and sense of belonging of young people growing up in border regions of Portugal, (GROW.UP - Grow up in border regions in Portugal: young people, educational pathways and agendas – PTDC/CED-EDG/29943/2017). Following a qualitative orientation (Braun & Clarke, 2013) this research aims to answer one main question: can schools’ self-evaluation promote social justice inside these TEIP schools and, at the same time, make schools more resilient? More specifically, this research aims to: (1) identify specificities of TEIP schools from border regions, and (2) map locally grounded approaches and practices that foster resilience and self-evaluation practices with a focus on social justice. The data consists of 38 face-to-face semi-structured interviews with school leaders from the 38 schools located in border regions, 10 of which are part of the TEIP program. The goal is to gather school leaders' perceptions on TEIP school specificities in border regions and the impact of the TEIP policy on social justice, including criteria related to self-evaluation processes, as well as identify conditions that favor schools' resilience. These participants were interviewed through semi-structured interviews (Hopf, 2004) focusing on the main aims of this research as previously pointed out. The data will be analyzed through content analysis (Bardin, 2011), using the NVivo software. The nature of this research raises ethical issues since the data collection involves contact with a variety of people and the gathering of their perceptions and opinions. To ensure compliance with ethical requirements the research protocol was submitted to the scrutiny of an ethical committee for validation.

Some preliminary results point out that border region schools are perceived as a mechanism to promote the dynamics of inclusion and participation of young people, as well as a mechanism for the dynamization and vitality of their communities (Yndigegn, 2003; Amiguinho, 2008). There seems to be an understanding of school as a resourceful social space to promote the well-being of young people and to support and engage them in positive educational pathways and future prospects. Also, compared with the non-TEIP schools, there seems to be an additional experience in the TEIP schools' working background that drives the development of actions and practices towards achieving social justice, in particular through educational activity follow-up and evaluation and concerns linked to curricular contextualization. Based on the interviews collected, the locally grounded approaches and practices associated with schools with resilience features are based on self-evaluation processes as a way for schools to be aware of their current situation and available to reorganise when necessary since their actions are assessed and monitored to mobilise and maximise their strengths. There are different features in these schools that the literature considers to be associated with schools with resilience approaches, namely, practices (e.g. mobilisation of data to inform decisions), cultures (e.g. a school that understands itself as embedded and in interpellation with the environment) and policies (e.g. capacity to respond and local adaptation).

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