A gestão escolar como elemento de qualidade da educação pública: limites e possibilidades.

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyze how the work of the management team interferes with the quality of schools. For this purpose, two institutions of the municipal network of Pelotas were chosen based on the following criteria: urban area schools; those nestled in a known social vulnerability neighborhood with more than one school; and schools with an approximated number of students. In order to analyze the quality and its multiple factors, the school socioeconomic reality was characterized, pointing out other aspects that interfere in this quality. For this purpose, it was necessary to deepen concepts such as educational management, democratic school management, participation, quality, among others, which were described based on the contributions of important authors such as Vitor Paro, Heloisa Lück and José Carlos Libâneo. In addition, the New Public Management was approached, due to the fact that the field research revealed the presence of its logic in Pelotas municipal network , directly impacting the work of the management teams.This approach was based on the contributions of authors such as Álvaro Hypolito, Dalila Andrade Oliveira, others still. Concerning the methodology, this is a qualitative research, with multiple case studies, developed on the basis of methodological perspective of Content Analysis. The data analysis obtained with the field research and making as opposed to the theory, made it possible to verify that the government model based on the principles of Neoliberalism, through the New Public Management, entered the municipal government system, interfering in the way how the management teams organize school institutions. With this, it was evidenced that the concern with the performance was strongly present in the schools, mobilizing the teams and their teachers in the search for the good results. Another fact is the participation of the community, where it was concluded that it was invited to participate only in festive or bureaucratic moments, not being invited in moments of decisions. The lack of human material was also pointed out as a difficulty of the teams, which caused the coordinators to deviate from their major pedagogical function, an essential factor for the qualification of the teaching work. However, they dealt with mechanisms that pushed the teams away from democratic modes of school management and brought them closer to managerial modes that are based on principles such as efficiency, productivity measured by benchmarking in external evaluations, regulation and control of teaching work. On the other hand, the research made it possible to understand that, even if still far from democratic management modes, management teams play an extremely important role in the consolidation of the public quality school. This movement was also evident in the teachers' statements, which affirmed that their practices are qualified upon receiving guidance and pedagogical support.