Continuous Professional Training

According to DGERT there are three types of vocational training.

Initial Professional Training, to provide the employee with knowledge, skills, and abilities essential to the exercise of the function.

Continuous Professional Training, with the aim of deepening professional and relational skills as a way to improve the performance of the activity carried out, is often associated with monitoring technological and operational evolution. It reinforces employability and talent retention, simultaneously with a feeling of professional growth and belonging to the organization.

A Fomação de Dupla Certificação, é uma formação inicial ou continua (desde que integrada no Catálogo Nacional de Qualificações (CNQ), quando realizada por uma entidade formadora certificada ou por estabelecimento de ensino ou formação reconhecido pelos ministérios competentes, que confere direito a certificação profissional ou escolar.

The current wording of the Labor Code (Law n.º 7/2009 of February 12), gives each worker the right to 40 hours of continuous professional training per year (or proportional in a fixed-term contract for a period equal to or greater than three months) , and the employer must provide such training.

In reality, it is up to the employer to:

• Promoting the development and adaptation of the worker's qualifications with a view to improving their employability and increasing the company's productivity and competitiveness;
• Ensuring the individual's right to a minimum of 40 hours per year of training, either through actions developed by the company itself, or by granting time to the worker to attend training on his own initiative;
• Organize training in the company, structuring and internally disseminating annual or multi-annual training plans;
• Recognize and value the qualifications acquired by the worker;

Article 131(3) of Law No. 7/2009 of February 12 states:

“The training referred to in the previous number can be carried out by the employer, by a training entity certified for the purpose, or by an educational establishment recognized by the competent ministry and gives rise to the issuance of a certificate and registration in the Individual Skills Booklet under the terms of the legal regime of the System of National Qualifications."

Thus, the employer may develop these continuing professional training activities, taking into account that:

• You must register with SIGO;
• You will have to resort to a certified trainer (with a CCP – Certificate of Pedagogical Skills);
• Record each training session provided on the SIGO platform;
• The training activity does not contradict what is stated in a collective labor regulation instrument or in an individual employment contract;
• Provide each worker who undergoes training with a certificate of continuous training (in a professional context).

As for the continuous training certificate (in a professional context), you should take into account whether the training was given:

With knowledge validation → respecting the provisions of (Article 7, No. 8 of Decree-Law No. 396/2007), the certificate must be issued in accordance with the model defined in Ordinance No. 474/2010, of 8 July.

Without knowledge validation → usually related to conferences, seminars, or others, requiring a document to prove participation without the need for a specific model.