Abstract:
This study analyzes the role of the School Council in the Democratic Management of Education, taking as an example the experiences of the Complete Primary Schools “3 de Fevereiro” in the city of Maputo and “29 de Setembro” in the district of Marracuene, Maputo province, to contribute to the identification of proposals that lead to the strengthening of School Councils. In the development of this research, the methodological procedures of qualitative research were followed and it was subsidized by statistical treatment in the analysis of the responses to the questionnaires and interviews. The interviews were applied to school managers, namely: two school directors, a pedagogical director of EPC “29 de Setembro” and the head of the EPC Secretariat “3 de Fevereiro”. Two questionnaires were prepared, one applied to a group of members of the School Council made up of four students and the other applied to the remaining members consisting of: five teachers, three administrative employees and six parents / community of the two schools. During the survey, a meeting of the 29 de Setembro Primary School Council was attended, whose agenda was the election of the president and secretary of the School Council. The study identified a violation of the rules governing the constitution of the School Councils, because in addition to the principal, who is the only member exempt from the election, there are other nominees and not elected on the boards of the two schools. The study also showed that, despite the participation of community members in the School Council meetings, in practice, they have little role in the course of the meetings, which still shows a strong influence of the teachers' segment on the type of decisions made by C.E. The study also found that the School Councils are directed by the school principals, given the constant absences of the respective presidents, who, in general, come from the parents' segment. Thus, from the analysis of the questionnaires, interviews and the assisted meeting, the study concluded that democratic management through the School Council has not yet been appropriated by the different actors in the teaching and learning process, especially parents or guardians (TRADUÇÃO NOSSA)
