The concept of regulation and school management policies in Brazil: political-pedagogical principles and contradictions

Abstract

This article analyzes school management policies in the context of social regulation linked to the control of globalized financial capital, with the aim of understanding their political-pedagogical principles and their contradictions. It presents the historical bases of political and economic globalization, as well as the changes in the model of social regulation that have impacted educational policies in Brazil. Through bibliographical research and guided by historical-dialectical materialism, it discusses the concept of regulation and its analytical potential to unravel the contradictions of school management policies in Brazil since the 2000s, highlighting the political-pedagogical divergences between “management by results” and democratic management. The results indicate that educational reforms inspired by neoliberal ideology reconfigured the regulation of school management, assigning to the school greater responsibility for planning, resource management, and evaluation. The study concludes that, although they aim to increase administrative efficiency and transparency, by restricting the participation of the community and educators to results-oriented management logic, these reforms compromise the development of democratic and inclusive education.

Keywords

• social regulation
• education policies
• neoliberalism
• school management
• school management by results
• democratic school management.