School management theories and their influence in Brazilian public schools

Abstract

This theoretical article seeks to compare the classical and critical theories of school administration in Brazil with the contemporary public schools management. The work focuses on the writings by Carneiro Leão, Querino Ribeiro, Anísio Teixeira and Benno Sander, in the classical perspective, and Miguel Arroyo, Fátima Félix and Vitor Paro, in the critical perspective, seeking to synthesize the main ideas of these schools. From this synthesis, the study contrasts the most emblematic elements of those theories with the most recent studies in this field, which seem to be more articulated to the empirical reality of the Brazilian schools. The article concludes by indicating that there is a degree of disconnection between classical and critical theories with the contemporary school management, but at the same time it is possible to perceive some relationships and influences, considering the strong prescriptive vein of the school management theory.

Keywords

• School management
• School administration
• Classical theories
• Critical theories