O funcionamento efetivo do conselho escolar como prática de gestão democrática

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the main causes responsible for harming the structure of the Raimundo Lourenço State School’s Council. We assume as hypothesis that the School Council doesn’t work effectively, due to the lack of participation on its activities by the many school community’s segments. In this study, we made a description about the case and we contextualized the purpose of democratic management in the Brazilian educational reality, based on the National Constitution of 1988, and in the National Plans of Educations, created in 2001 and 2014. This study was supported on the theoretical considerations about the social participation, autonomy and democratic management in schools, made by Cury (2002), Dallari (1984), Luck (2011; 2013) and Paro (2002). We analyzed the democratic management, within the social context, in the Brazilian public education. Besides, there was an investigation about the School Council as part of a school democratic management. To do so, the chosen methodology was the qualitative research, which tried to understand this case, based on the participants opinions involved in the educational process. Furthermore, there was a documental analysis and there were interviews with the manager and with the other school participants, with the objective to describe how those actors participate. Beyond, we also tried to know the perception of each interviewed about the School Council structure and the school’s management. According to the findings, it was possible to see the challenges on the School Council as part of a participative management. Between those challenges, there are: the lack of a democratic Council in the school; counselors who don’t know their own attributions and the Council’s function. We can also highlight the fact that the school management is non-democratic. Accordingly, we propose an Educational Plan of Actions: Counselor’s formation; school community sensitization about the Council importance; strengthening of the partnerships between school management and others school segments; and a Plan of Actions creation, regarding the school’s priorities. Those actions have the objective to contribute on the school’s segments participation inside the school. However, we recognize that this thematic is complex, so there is a necessity of new investigations about this Council in a way that they can contribute to a better democratic management inside the school.