The Discourse of Democratic School Management: School Board on focus.

Abstract

The study analyses discursive practices of public school counselors focusing on the discourse of democratic management and forms of participation in school board meetings of the Recife Educational System. Data collection was carried out through observation of regular meetings of school boards, examined through the discourse analysis perspective. The findings show that the actions of the subjects that could contribute to the materialization of democratic principles in the school are inarticulate or silenced by a number of factors, among which are the distance in time between council meetings and the interdiction that characterizes discursive practices in the schools. It is highlighted that power is exercised throughout council meetings without any of the subjects identifying themselves as its owner. Nevertheless, the word is a powerful tool used by the school management in order to impose itself in the decision-making process as a school management project.