Management and democracy in school: limits and challenges

Abstract

This article discusses the evolution of the principle of democracy in the history of public education in Brazil in order to contextualize the process of democratic management, currently in evidence in the public school as a condition for improving the quality of education. It has been analysed as a goal what are the principles of democratic management, the Federal Constitution of 1988 and the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education, 1996, n°. 9394, seeking to understand the limit of the sense of democracy in schools and its challenges. The guiding assumption of this article is that the participation of the school actors and the school community is the main factor for the initial democratic management. The concept of participation was approached from the perspective of Diaz Bordenave (1994) that considers participation as a learning experience. The methodology used was a survey documents and bibliographic, with qualitative approach. The study shows a critical management model that says itself democratic, but there is no room for the participation of school actors. Shows that the effective participation of teachers and the community is still a becoming, a great challenge and one of the barriers to the implementation of democracy in school. The figure of the manager was highlighted as a leader and responsible for the disruption of the traditional paradigm of conservative management of the school.

Key-words: democratic management, participation, educational quality.