PLNM: how Portuguese schools teach Portuguese to children who arrive without it

Português Língua Não Materna(PLNM, “Portuguese as a non-native language”) is a school subject in Portuguese public education, from the first year of primary school through 12th grade. A pupil who arrives without enough Portuguese is tested by the school, placed at a level, and takes PLNM instead of the regular Portuguese subject until they are ready for it. It costs nothing extra. The child still belongs to an ordinary class for everything else.

The rules were rewritten in 2025. Since then there is a “level zero” for children who do not know the language or the alphabet, a smaller minimum group size for beginners, and one set of rules for secondary school. The existing expat families guide gives the overview. This page covers the detail parents usually need once school has started.

Who qualifies for PLNM?

Both portarias use the same two criteria. PLNM is for pupils:

• whose mother tongue is not Portuguese, or
• who have not been schooled in Portuguese, and for whom the school judges PLNM the most suitable option given their school history and sociolinguistic profile.

The second criterion matters for bilingual families: a child with a Portuguese-speaking parent who has always gone to school in English can still qualify. The criteria are about language and schooling, not nationality or residence status. The DGE describes the target group as pupils newly arrived in the system.

How is a child placed? The diagnostic test

When the child enters the system, the school does two things. It builds a sociolinguistic profile (the languages spoken at home, with friends and family, how long the child has been in Portugal, their school history), and it runs a diagnostic test against the Common European Framework descriptors, following DGE guidance. The DGE FAQ says the test itself is written by the school.

The DGE publishes positioning tests schools can use, one for the first and second cycles and one for the third cycle and secondary, with the audio. They are public; the answer keys go only to schools. Looking at the one for your child’s age is the quickest way to see what “A1” means in practice.

What are the PLNM levels?

The levels follow the Common European Framework, grouped into three bands, plus level zero. Note the grouping: since 2025, B2 sits in the intermediate band, not the advanced one as in the 2018 text.

PLNM groups are organized by level, not by grade, so a 7th grader and a 9th grader at A2 can share a class. The rules require teaching and assessment to be adapted to the pupil’s age.

How big are PLNM groups, and how many hours?

For pupils at level zero, A1, A2 or B1, the portarias allow three arrangements:

On hours: the rules do not give PLNM a separate weekly allowance. It is taught as the equivalent ofPortuguese, in the time the timetable gives Portuguese. That is why the third row is the one to watch. In a small school, “PLNM” can mean sitting in the regular Portuguese lesson with adapted work, which is very different from a separate beginners’ group.

The DGE also runs distance PLNM courses with the Ciberescola association, through participating school groups: for pupils from 2nd to 12th grade, at A1, A2 and B1, in groups of at most seven pupils from different schools, with two videoconference sessions of 50 to 60 minutes a week. If your school cannot form a group, ask whether it takes part.

What happens in the first months?

For newly arrived pupils at level zero, A1 or A2, the school may, with the parents’ agreement, offer two things. The first is progressive integration into the curriculum: the child is enrolled in a class for their grade but attends a selection of subjects, plus activities chosen for language immersion and belonging, such as tutoring, mentoring, clubs and school sports. The school’s inclusive-education team (Equipa Multidisciplinar de Apoio à Educação Inclusiva) proposes it, and the PLNM teacher coordinates it.

The regular subjects attended must add up to 480 minutes a week in the first cycle (grades 1 to 4), 450 in the second (grades 5 and 6), and 350 in the third (grades 7 to 9); secondary school has its own rules, under Portaria n.º 86/2025/1. The child’s total school time stays the same. Progressive integration applies in the school year of arrival, and in the following one too if the child arrived in the last six months of the previous year.

The second is adapted assessment, internal and external. For level zero and A1/A2 pupils, the grade for the term or semester in which they arrive can be a written description instead of a number.

How long can a child stay in PLNM?

Levels run in order: A1, A2, B1, B2. A child can move up at the end of the year or at any point during it, by passing an intermediate test the school sets. Passing PLNM for the year does not automatically move them up: a pupil may stay up to two school years at A1, two at A2, and two at B1. Read that as a ceiling on each level, not a forecast. There is no fixed total, but once a pupil reaches B2 they join regular Portuguese.

Meanwhile the other subjects do not wait. A child at A2 is still taught history and science in Portuguese, so ask what support exists outside the PLNM lesson.

How does PLNM affect national exams?

• Grades 4 and 6 (ModA tests). Since 2025 these monitoring tests include a PLNM version. For pupils at level zero or beginner level, the school director can decide they do not sit them.
• Grade 9. Pupils at A1, A2 or B1 can sit the national PLNM final test instead of the Portuguese one.
• Grade 12. Pupils at A1, A2 or B1 can sit the national PLNM exam (code 839) instead of Portuguese (639). A pupil at B2 in 12th grade who completed B1 in 11th grade can also sit 839 to pass the subject and finish secondary school.

One more secondary-school rule: if a pupil moves from PLNM to regular Portuguese partway through, their final grade for the subject is the average of the PLNM and Portuguese grades. The PLNM grade appears on the official record like any other subject.

What should parents ask the school?

1. When is the diagnostic test, and can we see the result? Ask which level your child was placed at, and why.
2. Is there a separate PLNM group, or will my child stay in the Portuguese lesson? If the latter, ask about support classes and Ciberescola.
3. Is progressive integration planned? Which subjects, which activities, and who coordinates it.
4. How will the first term be assessed? A descriptive report is allowed for new arrivals; ask whether the school uses it.
5. Can my child be excused from a foreign language? In grades 5 to 9, article 13 of the 2018 portaria (left in place by the 2025 changes) lets the director exempt newly arrived pupils from foreign school systems from one foreign language, to make room for Portuguese.
6. For teenagers: which exams, in which years? Especially whether a planned university program needs Portuguese as an entrance exam.
7. Who is the PLNM teacher, and how do we reach them? Alongside the diretor de turma (class coordinator), they are your most useful contact.

If you are still choosing a school or have not enrolled yet, start with our school enrollment guide for expat children. If the move is still months away, see how to teach kids Portuguese before moving.

How parents can help at home

PLNM works in European Portuguese, so keep home material European too: Brazilian cartoons and apps are not wrong, but the school will mark European spelling, vocabulary and tu forms. Read school messages together, and learn the words of the school day yourself (TPC, teste, sumário, caderneta) so the child is not your interpreter. PoisPois gives each family member their own login and level, in European Portuguese only, which lets a parent keep up with a child in PLNM without borrowing their homework.