Sentidos de participação em uma política de promoção do envolvimento dos estudantes na gestão escolar na cidade de João Pessoa - PB

Abstract

In this paper, I seek to investigate the meaning of participation present in the public policy of student participation based on the Student Leadership Project, created by the Department of Education and Culture of the city of João Pessoa-PB. I analyze the constituent elements of the municipal policy of encouraging the development of student participation in elementary schools in a context of retraction of institutional policies of popular participation. Thus, from the immersion in the process of construction of this policy, it was possible to gather a set of data that demonstrate the ideas of participation present in the elaboration of the project. Several methodologies were used based on informal interviews, analysis of documents, and reports of professionals directly involved in the educational management of the current municipal government, under the tutelage of the Department of Education and Culture. It was possible to identify the central idea of the policy, which aimed to encourage student participation, called protagonism, to “give responsibility to students in relation to school”, contradicting the legislation in force and opposing the sense of participation that was present in the movements for the democratization of the country and that shaped the creation of participatory bodies in Brazil. Holding individuals responsible for their own destinies — in this case, students for the good or bad functioning of schools — is a central characteristic of a neoliberal policy.