A dimensão pedagógica na atuação do diretor de escola pública de primeiro e segundo graus

Abstract

This work is characterized as an analytical descriptive study that investigates, in the context of public elementary and high schools in the city of São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil, the possible conditions for the lack of commitment of school principals to the pedagogical dimension of their role. The research was motivated by the author's observation of an antagonistic situation in the performance of these professionals: on the one hand, the need for a pedagogical posture from the school principal that enables the execution of the teaching-learning process; on the other hand, the resistance, manifested by these professionals in their daily lives, in assuming the pedagogical dimension of their role. The subjects of this investigation were 32 school principals of the public elementary and high schools network of the state of São Paulo, from the cities linked to the São Carlos education department. A questionnaire consisting predominantly of open-ended questions related to the problem investigated was used as the instrument for data collection. Data analysis was performed by considering groups of statements with similar meanings configured in response classes quantified as percentages. This analysis includes both the academic and post-academic training of school principals and their conceptions, opinions, explanations and/or justifications in relation to the problem investigated; the intra- and extra-school requests made to them and the predictions and alternative proposals expressed by these professionals. The results obtained confirm the antagonistic situation identified. School principals acknowledge the importance and need for their pedagogical work in order to make the teaching-learning process viable in their schools, but they do not assume, in their daily school life, the pedagogical dimension of their work. The possible conditions for the lack of commitment to the pedagogical dimension of their role were revealed, according to the reports of school principals, to be of diverse natures and levels: excess of tasks performed, division and fragmentation of daily activities, constant and diverse requests both within and outside the school, failure to fill modules with the consequent reduction of professionals needed by schools, minimal and sometimes non-existent decision-making power and lack of direct participation in proposals for curricular change and/or pedagogical innovations.