O diretor de turma

: líder ou gestor?

Abstract

My professional interaction with some form tutors gave me different perspectives of these school middle management figures, and that is on the basis of reflection on the role they play in the class council. The form tutor is asked to perform administrative work, which turns him/her into a sort of manager of the class. However his/her main role is one of leadership. In this report I use several leadership theories aiming to understand which of them is more suitable to the form tutor’s role, always keeping in mind the specific characteristics of a school organization. Keeping the focus on the variety of roles given to the form tutor inside the class council, particularly as a teacher leader, I wonder about the importance they have among their peers and also among the hierarchy of a school structure. To begin with: what are the power competences which can be called by them? Do they have exactly the same representativeness as other middle management figures? Given the fact that a form tutor establishes an important role in approaching the family and school, and that his/her role is essential to the learning success of the student, we have equate the conditions of the his/her actions and we have reached the conclusion that: leadership in one hand depends on his/her personal skills, on the other hand it goes against different ways of thinking and different actions of the peers, which calls for the principle of non-interference in peer’s work.

Date of Award	2013
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Joaquim Machado (Supervisor)