A escola entre a retórica da autonomia e as práticas de concentração

The generalisation of post-primary Education in the last 50 years has translated itself into a growth of the school system and has highlighted the limitations of its management by the bureaucratic centralism. The recognition by the State that local stakeholders have conditions to fit national policies with the several contexts in a more appropriate way is based on the transfer of skills to the municipalities and the granting of autonomies to schools, making the School a place of central management and the Community an essential partner to the creation and development of the Educational Project Nonetheless, that autonomy presumes that the School’s Stakeholders are able to move forward with political actions, develop administrative proceedings and use scientific and technical skills. Our study is performed in a secondary school located in the North of Portugal which has an autonomy agreement since 2007 and aims to know which goals are at the basis of the school’s decision to conclude and maintain an autonomy agreement as a support of its organizational development project, the meanings given to this by the School’s Stakeholders and its impact in the school. The research is of a quality nature and favours the observation techniques, the analysis of documents produced by the school and of the half- structured interview to the Director and the Chair of the General Board. The results of the study point to areas where the school’s stakeholders have experienced autonomy and its narrow scope, which resulted from a recentralisation and control by the central government.