Gestão democrática: concepções teóricas na formação dos gestores escolares da rede estadual do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

Democratic management constitutes one of the fundamental pillars of Brazilian public education and, over the past decades, has been the subject of debates, legislation, and training programs aimed at strengthening collective participation in the school context. In Rio Grande do Sul, the State Department of Education, through the State Program for the Training of School Principals (PEFG), directed at principals and vice-principals in office during the 2022–2024 triennium, sought to foster reflections and practices related to this theme. It is within this context that the present study is situated, with the objective of analyzing the conceptions of democratic management mobilized in the program’s training circuits. The research was guided by the following problem: what conceptions of democratic management are present in the School Leadership Training Course, offered by the state network, and how do these conceptions reverberate in the practices of principals of public schools in Erechim? The investigation is grounded in a qualitative approach, articulating three main procedures: bibliographical research, documentary analysis, and fieldwork. The bibliographical stage drew upon authors such as Libâneo, Paro, and Veiga, in addition to legal frameworks such as the Federal Constitution of 1988 and the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education (Law No. 9394/96). The documentary research included the analysis of State Decree No. 56.274/2021, which established the PEFG, as well as videos of training sessions made available by the State Department of Education (SEDUC) on its official YouTube channel. The field study was carried out in two stages: first, a virtual questionnaire administered to principals and vice-principals in office during the triennium; and second, semi-structured interviews with school leaders from the 21 state schools in Erechim, the empirical setting chosen for the study. The number of participants was defined based on the average of school leaders in office, considering that all, in principle, had participated in the program. The results indicate that the conceptions of democratic management identified in the course are aligned with theoretical perspectives that emphasize participation, dialogue, and commitment to public education. However, contradictions and ambiguities also emerge: while the training proposal incorporates elements inspired by authors who defend democratic management, it is simultaneously permeated by a neoliberal bias, evidenced in the adoption of competencies established by the National Common Base for School Principals (BNC – School Principal), oriented toward performance, control, and accountability. This ambivalence was highlighted in the statements of the participating principals, who acknowledged the course as a relevant pedagogical resource, yet perceived it as distant from the concrete realities of public education in Rio Grande do Sul, approaching an idealized scenario. It can thus be concluded that, although the training contributes to advancing discussions on democratic management, it still lacks closer alignment with the everyday challenges faced by school leaders.