Gestão democrática e conselho escolar: a participação da comunidade nos processos de decisão numa escola municipal de Olinda – PE

Abstract

This research is the result of an investigative process carried out on a Olinda’s (PE) municipal school. The purpose of this research was to analyze the community participation in the School Council (SC), identifying its influence on the processes of decision of the current school management. Based on the assumptions of the Case Study of descriptive and interpretive aim, the study was carried out by way of a systematic observation of the SC’s meetings and of the semi-structured interviews with the representatives of each active segment. It was sought to comprehend the meanings and the importance that the counselors attribute to the SC’s role as a space for the effective participation in the configuration of the processes of democratization of the management and of the school. To analyze the data, it was chosen the methodology of Content Analysis, that made it possible to identify the conceptions of management and participation, as well as the spaces and the forms of participation and decision of the interviewed representatives, contributions and influences on decisions in the school management. The results indicate that the conceptions of management and participation present among the members of the observed SC are close to the socio-critical perspective of school management, wich foresees the participation of all involved in the formal and non-formal spaces of the SC. It was possible to verify the knowledge level of the educative community about the function, limits and possibilities of the counselors proceeding in this decision-making instance. However, despite the legal advances and the participatory practices in management decentralization processes, there was a need for training of the counselors to better understand the effective political participation among representatives and the SC’s strengthening.