Abstract
This article documents the establishment of the specialised sphere of educational sciences in the Portuguese democracy as from 1976 to 1987. It analyses the historical development of educational science into educational sciences, in the plural, the process of its institutionalisation at the universities and the relationship between discursive opportunities and visibility of its disciplinary field and relevant actors. The results of that analysis suggest that it was the discursive opportunities provided by the government that, by convening since 1986 the scientific expertise of educational sciences specialists, decisively made a contribution to the substructure of this specialised sphere.
Key-words:
educational sciences; specialised public sphere; Portugal