What is the general council’s role in managing Portuguese public schools? Principals’ perceptions

Abstract

The current school management model, enshrined in Decree-Law No. 75/2008, of April 22, has been operating for over ten years. The objective of this study is to take stock of the validity of the school management model, from the perspective of Principals, as the primary decision-makers within schools, collecting interpretations and positions that identify challenges for the formal model and its implementation in the practices of school administration and management. For this article, we analyzed, through data obtained with 30 exploratory interviews and 83 questionnaires, the perceptions of school principals about the role of the general council in the management model. The conclusions show that the principals have divergent opinions about the general council’s composition and attributions. Still, they generally agree with the lack of competencies to carry out some of their objectives, as well as point out doubts regarding the ability of their elements to have relevant participation and sufficiently unbiased decisions without being controlled by the principal or external forces. As positive, they point to the representation of different groups of actors inside and outside the school. However, there is no significant relationship between the principals’ perceptions of the general council and their perspectives on the success factors in school management, the autonomy of schools or the relationships between them and the various entities.

School management model; Principal; General council; Portugal