The present report is somehow the reflex of a significant professional path, marked by interpellant and influential events. Therefore we intend to develop and deepen theconcept of school autonomy, with the special and urgent aim of changing na inadequate “state of affairs”, willing at the same time to trigger the beginning of new official educational places. The main idea is based, in the first place, on the thesis that under a centralizing unifying normative system that has, in the last decades, been invading our educational background, it is important to transfer the core of the educational system into the “heart” of the school, to the life’s world, as Habermas puts it, because it is there, in the base of unique contexts and real problems of both people and the school, that we can build a new kind of autonomy, developing personalized and innovative educational projects, locally based, on the search for truly adequate answers. Secondly, the idea that school should perspective its action on learning and on the mission of teaching, according to Nóvoa’s retraction proposal. Notwithstanding, school should keep its central role in the involvement of society (families, associations, universities…) to accomplish its educational and social dimension so important to the solution of the issues concerning the child and the adolescent. In the first chapter, and because I had the privilege of being involved with and committed to activities concerning social affairs, throughout the last twelve years, as the director of an IPSS (Private institution of social service) I travelled between two worlds, comparing and reporting them around the concept of autonomy. Here we emphasize the social part over the educational one as far as freedom and the capacity to decide and innovate, to build autonomous and personalized ways, missions and visions are concerned. These answers are intended to be unique and the most adequate to the local territory in question. Based on several theoretical references, we question and try to explain why schools cannot follow this procedure. At the same time some leads are given to prove that those procedures of autonomy used in the social system can also be transferred and applied to the educational system (theories supported by Nóvoa, Barroso, Azeredo, Canário et al. converging all in the idea of creating a new type of official school where the centre of decision and educational action is in the school itself and not outside.). In the second chapter, still under the influence of the work developed in the IPSS, we talk about a set of differentiating innovative projects such as CEF’s (Education and Formation Courses), Cursos Profissionais (professional courses) and EFA’s (adults’ education and formation courses) that, despite being taught at Couto MIneiro do Pejão School, could have had a better and extended turnover if there had been other conditions. It is also clear in this chapter the indirect impact of the educational offer for adults, especially as far as school social support for their own children is concerned. On the other hand, parents learnt how to deal more effectively with issues concerning education. In the third chapter, thanks to all the experience achieved as the leader of the Serviços Especializados de Apoio Educativo (special education support service) I tried to portray not only some of the anguish and frustration that I had to deal with, but also the fact that I became aware of the importance of the educational and social dimensions to solve educational issues in Portugal, having the school where I worked as background. Nevertheless, we paid special attention to the educational dimension, to the mission of teaching and to the need of inserting quality pedagogic projects based on the student (alike Fénix Project), daring to defy internal rules and standard procedures at school which are no longer effective and need to be questioned by other possibilities and solutions rooted in pedagogical and self reflexive leaderships. Besides that, we defend that the social dimension should become the core action for the school, and to do it, it should involve other audiences from the community, who will be co-responsible for a social-communitarian intervention. In the last chapter we describe the risk of the emergence of a Mega “Agrupamento” (mega cluster of schools) supported by aTop-Down logic, disrespectful of the place, the idea of community, humanity and proximity. Instead, we claim and demand for autonomous schools as real and true educational local authorities inserted in a network of local action. The analysis of some examples allows us to observe that the national centralization reproduces new local centralizations. By adding value to local centres, in this case Castelo de Paiva, one makes serious mistakes that are difficult to repair. Financial resources are wasted, human and material resources are not used efficiently simply because the local schools’ opinions have never been heard or taken into account in the choice of the concept of education and school.
| Date of Award | 2012 |
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| Original language | Portuguese |
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| Awarding Institution | - Universidade Católica Portuguesa
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| Supervisor | José Matias Alves (Supervisor) |
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