[4][5] Alçada has also held a number of education-related government-appointed positions, including coordinator for the working group that would conceive the Portuguese school library network (1995-1996), and commissioner for the National Reading Plan (2006-2009).

She attended Lycée français Charles Lepierre and took her Bachelor's degree in philosophy at the University of Lisbon, later obtaining a Master's degree in education sciences from the Boston University.

In 1976, she decided to follow a career teaching Portuguese and History to 5th and 6th grade students (the 2nd cycle in the Portuguese basic education system); and in 1985, she joined the teaching staff of the Lisbon School of Education.

[3][7] She met Ana Maria Magalhães in 1976 at the Escola Básica Fernando Pessoa where they were both teachers.

The two teachers formed a friendship and writing partnership, publishing their first book, Uma Aventura na Cidade, in 1982.