A gestão democrática na educação da Bahia: participação e regulação no contexto das políticas educacionais da rede estadual

Abstract

The present work, titled "The Democratic Management in Bahia’s educational system", is a thesis research for a masters degree which aims to analyze the public participation mechanisms proposed by the legal guideline documents of the Brazilian state of Bahia's public education system from 2019 to 2024. This study uses a qualitative approach and aims, specifically, to: identify goals and strategies in the State Education Plan (Plano Estadual de Educação) that favor or obstruct participation mechanisms and how they reflect in other documents and regulations; analyze the guideline documents for the implementation of representative councils in schools; understand the chosen direction of the public management for achieving participation in schools, and analyze the historical trajectory of public management in Bahia, given the Neoliberal State. This is a document analysis of the State Plan of Education (Plano Estadual de Educação) nº13559/2016, of the Brazilian Ordinary Statute nº11,043/2008, the Unified School Regulation (Regimento Escolar Unificado) of 2011, of Resolution nº1244/2022, and the Guidelines Book of 2022 (Caderno de Orientações: O Colegiado Escolar Fortalecendo a Gestão Democrática). Our analysis, based on Cellard (2012)'s studies, regards documents as a source of information that enables historical knowledge. The selected documents are part of the current working law. However, the chosen time frame is justified by the purpose of our research, which aimed to map out the public policies for democratic management in the state of Bahia in the last five years. This study is largely based on the works of: Behring and Boschetti (2006), Bordenave (2007), Coutinho (2011), Dourado (2012), Dardot and Laval (2016), Florestan Fernandes (2006), Gohn (2011), Luck (2013), Souza (2006), Paro (2016) and Pateman (1992). Our results suggest that legislation in Bahia shows contradictions and stress in regards to democratic management: while it advances towards regulation-making, it also maintains structural struggles connected to centralized decision-making and the managerialist logic. It shows that democratic management is more than a legal principle; it is part of a permanent process of dispute and construction within educational policies.