The Democratic Management of the Public School in Contexts of Local Educational Reforms - A Comparative Study between Brazil and Spain - Article

Sep 30, 2026

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Democratic management of the public school is treated as a collective practice with contemporary historical roots, requiring changes to the school unit’s autocratic and hierarchical structure. The study analyzes how legislation on democratic school management is constructed within local educational reform contexts, using comparative cases from Brazil and Spain. Educational legislation is examined as documents that incorporate authoritative state discourses and that circulate worldviews through disputes over hegemony in educational policy fields, shaping participation rules for school actors.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages28

Reading Time1 h 11 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

education policy analysis archives A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal Arizona State University Volume 28 Number 2 January 6, 2020 ISSN 1068-2341 The Democratic Management of the Public School in Contexts of Local Educational Reforms: A Comparative Study between Brazil and Spain 1 Neusa Chaves Batista Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul Brazil & Miguel A. Pereyra University of Granada Spain Citation: Batista, N. C., & Pereyra, M. A. (2020) . The democratic management of the public school in contexts of local educational reforms: A comparative study between Brazil and Spain. Translated from the original, A gestão democrática da escola pública em contextos de reformas educacionais locais: Estudo comparado entre Brasil e Espanha. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 28(2). [https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.28.4285](https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.28.4285) Abstract: Democratic management as a way of organizing the public school can be translated in its contemporary historicity as a collective action that demands changes in the autocratic and hierarchical structure of the school unit. In this article, we analyze the process of constructing legislation on democratic school management in contexts of local educational reforms, based on Brazilian and Spanish cases. Methodologically, we understand educational legislation as documents that incorporate discourses with legitimate authority, especially of the State, and that spread conceptions of the world as a result of disputes over hegemony in the field of 1 This is an unofficial English translation provided by the authors and has not been peer-reviewed. educational policies. In terms of results, our study points out that throughout the process of producing legislation for the democratic management of schools, the two countries showed advances and setbacks regarding the specification of the school actors who should participate indecision-making processes, as well as the instances of participation in school management. Keywords: Democratic Management; Public School; Educational Reforms; Educational Legislation; Comparative Education A gestão democrática da escola pública em contextos de reformas educacionais locais: Estudo comparado entre Brasil e Espanha Resumo: A gestão democrática, como modo de organização da escola pública, pode sertraduzida, em sua historicidade contemporânea, como uma ação coletiva que exige mudanças naestrutura autocrática e hierárquica da unidade escolar. Neste artigo analisamos o processo deconstrução da legislação sobre gestão escolar democrática em contextos de reformas educacionais locais, tomando por base os casos brasileiro e espanhol. Metodologicamente, entendemos a legislação educacional como documentos que incorporam discursos revestidos de autoridade legítima, especialmente de Estado, que difundem concepções de mundo fruto de disputas por hegemonia no campo das políticas educacionais. Em termos de resultados, nossoestudo aponta que, ao longo do processo de produção de legislação para a gestão escolar democrática, os dois países que investigamos apresentam avanços e recuos em relação tanto à especificação dos atores escolares que deveriam participar nos processos de tomada de decisões sobre as questões escolares, quanto sobre quais seriam as instâncias de participação na gestãoescolar. Palavras-chave: Gestão Democrática; Escola Pública; Reformas Educacionais; Legislação Educacional; Educação Comparada La gestión democrática de la escuela pública en contextos de reformas educativas locales: Estudio comparado entre Brasil y España Resumen: La gestión democrática, como modo de organización de la escuela pública puede sertraducida, en su historicidad contemporánea, como una acción colectiva que exige cambios en laestructura autocrática y jerárquica de la unidad escolar. Este artículo analiza el proceso de construcción de la legislación sobre gestión escolar democrática en contextos de reformase

FAQs

What is the main focus of the article?

The article examines the democratic management of public schools and how legislation for it is constructed in local educational reform contexts through a comparative study of Brazil and Spain.

How does the study conceptualize educational legislation?

Educational legislation is analyzed as authoritative documents, especially those incorporating state discourses, that disseminate worldviews resulting from disputes over hegemony in educational policy fields.

What does the study report about progress and setbacks?

Across the legislation production process, Brazil and Spain show advances and setbacks regarding which school actors should participate in decision-making and which participation instances should occur in school management.

Sep 30, 2026

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