Democratic School Management: a Citizen School in the Context of Amazon

This paper is based on a research whose aim was to investigate how a democratic management, understood as the plural space for position sharing and conflict negotiation, has actually been carried out in public schools in Manacapuru, State of Amazonas, Brazil. The text analyses the Brazilian educational policy, specifically on democratic management of elementary schools, considering how the principles of autonomy and participation in a democratic management have materialized in the school's daily life. The issue is part of a much broader context involving ongoing efforts toward democratization in the country. As a result of the struggle to reach the democratization of education in Brazil, the idea of a democratic management incorporates the first two stages of this movement, that is, the struggle to universalize the right to public school and the pursuit of quality education. In that sense, democratic management is capable of acting decisively to transform the structures of school and society itself. Results show that, despite the school system's progress in implementing a democratic management, there are still several challenges to overcome the centralized and authoritarian practices found in public management.