One of the recent trends in educational policies is to implicate local actors in the strategic planning of education (Chang, 2008). Consequently,local action plans proliferate, internationally, as well as in Portugal. Strategic planning has become crucial to the definition of education policiesby the local governments (municipalities). Educational policies, including local action plans, must also consider the current goals for education inthe direction of individual and collective future well-being (OECD, 2019): a strong bet in schools digitalisation, in inclusive approaches and inworking to promote students’ agency are nowadays strongly advised. Recently, COVID-19 pandemic highlighted teaching and learningstrategies, worldwide, still focus mainly on teachers’ agency, do not use digital technologies to their full potential and have incipient inclusivepractices, which contributed to increasing social differences among students.The overall Portuguese scenario points to increased population ageing and the subsequent decreasing number of students. However, we mustconsider the contrast between the urban littoral and the rural interior. The first characterized by a territorial dynamic of high population densityand the concentration of socioeconomic opportunities. While the second is a low-density territory with scarce employment opportunities,intensified desertification and emptying, and even closing, of schools. We aim to analyse how different local action plans can respond to thespecificities of their territories and, simultaneously, work to achieve the mentioned global goals. Aside from financial constraints associated withthat process, local strategic planning also must consider the territories demographic and socioeconomic specificity.We used a mixed methods research strategy and compared field notes, the discourse of local actors, the strategic documents andsocioeconomic and demographic statistical data collected/produced during the elaboration of two diagnostic studies conducted by our team forthe elaboration of strategic educational plans: in one municipality from the Lisbon Metropolitan Area - Oeiras; and another in Baixo Alentejo.First results point to strategies to a proactive strategy aiming to build a future able to answer a high and diversified educational demand within adense social and productive territory in Oeiras in the Metropolitan Area. And to a “damage control” strategy where education is considered asurvival instrument within the rural interior of Baixo Alentejo. Aside the differences between littoral and interior, socioeconomic and demographicdiversity within each territory adds challenges to the definition of municipal and regional action plans. However, local actors from both territoriesaim to achieve similar goals, mainly schools’ digitalisation and inclusive approaches.

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Local government,demographic and socioeconomic contexts,local education policies,well-being