Democratização da gestão escolar em um município do alto sertão da Paraíba: limites e possibilidades a partir do Plano Municipal de Educação (2015-2025).

Abstract

This research aimed to analyze the democratization of school management in the municipality of Pombal (PB), with an emphasis on how the education system has organized itself to meet the democratic management target of the Municipal Education Plan (2015-2025), specifically with regard to the process of filling the position of school principal, considering the sociopolitical relations of a patrimonialist and autocratic society. To this end, it analyzes the conceptions of democratic management in the light of the categories principal recruitment mechanism and involvement, as well as the process of planning public policies in general and, in particular, the planning of educational policy in Brazil throughout history and the repercussions around the PNE (2014-2024) and PME (2015-2025) with a focus on the goal of democratic management. The research is based on historical and dialectical materialism and consists of document analysis and bibliographic analysis. The empirical field was made up of semi-structured interviews with individuals representing the school community in the municipality, as well as legislation and documents produced at local level. Based on this study, it was possible to see, at a national level, that although there has been progress in the processes of civil society participation vis-à-vis the state in the planning of educational policy, this has only happened in part, with society being distant from the decisions inherent in the actions themselves, reflecting its patrimonialist character reverberating in local policies. The model of democratic management that remains hegemonic, approved in the PNE (2014-2024) of a managerial nature and reproduced in the PME (2015-2025), is being reinforced by the policy of evaluating performance and results introduced by the new Fundeb Law, in order to meet the conditions for receiving the supplement to the Pupil Value Year Result (VAAR), interfering with the democratization of school management, making it optional to hold a public consultation with the community in order to fill the position of school principal. The data shows that while there is a certain political awareness on the part of those interviewed of the importance of democratizing school management, especially through engagement, clientelist behaviour is also prominent, given the municipality's economic dependence. The setback caused by linking the position of school principal to the economic policy of financing education, in the current model, is noteworthy.