Selection of school principals in the State of Rio de Janeiro: community participation in political (con)text

Abstract

We analyze how the community's participation in the selection of school principals is included in the legal texts of the municipalities of the State of Rio de Janeiro (RJ). The study carried out from March 2018 to February 2020 covered the forms of community participation in the process of selecting school principals. The Organic Law, the Municipal Education Plan and the legislation on the selection process of directors available at the electronic addresses of the City Halls, City Councils and Municipal Education Departments of the 92 municipalities of RJ were analyzed. We found legislation in 37 municipalities, organized in three blocks based on the concept of normative fidelity, that is, a relationship that articulates the analysis of how the municipalities deliberated the selection of school principals in legal documents. The results demonstrate that the Municipalities operate with a low scale of democracy and that mechanisms of election and consultation in the selection of directors oscillate, subtracting the participation in the decision of the community in the process of selection of school principals. There is a tension placed in the field of studies on democratic management between the categories election and consultation, inscribed since the production of the policy text.