The debate over public and private has an increasing role in international education agenda and in several scientific, political and social forums. This paper aims to revisit this debate, identifying current trends of policy measures that appeal to educational market. Through the eyes of policy and educational administration, the paper draws on empirical evidence to show perverse effects, particularly in educational inequalities, which resulted from centralized administration as well as from educational markets. This phenomenon is interpreted as an indicator of the complexity of public policy and, therefore, we question the advantage of maintaining a certain public/private dichotomy that tends to ignore unexpected results in collective action.
Public and private in education; Public school; Public education policies