Understanding the Practice of School Management through the Perspective of Sociomateriality

Elton Oliveira De Moura,Marcelo De Souza Bispo

doi:10.1590/1984-92302021v28n9606en

Abstract

Abstract The objective of this study was to analyze the practice of school management in light of sociomateriality in a public school of a capital in the northeast of Brazil. When studying school management from the perspective of sociomateriality, it is understood that this practice does not occur exclusively through the “hands” of the principal, but is a dynamic, situated phenomenon that develops different nuances through the interaction of various actors (human and non-human). A qualitative research method was employed, through shadowing and interview to the double. Data analysis relied on the framework prepared by Bispo (2015). Three fragments of practices that make up the texture of school management were identified: pedagogical practice, administrative support practice, and social interest practice. We found that the practice of school management does not happen in isolation, but is interconnected within the greater texture of sociomaterial practices.

Highlights

Education has been receiving considerable attention in management, considering the attempt to introduce managerialist models of school management, which include the discussion of curricula, budget organization and human-resource management (Krawczyk, 2014; Passador &Organizações & Sociedade, 2021, 28(96)Salvetti, 2013)
This study aims to answer the following question: How to think about an alternative to the predominant functionalist position of school management? The objective of this research was to analyze the practice of school management in the light of sociomateriality in a public school in a capital located in the northeast of Brazil
The objective of this research was to analyze the practice of school management in light of sociomateriality in a public school located in the northeast of Brazil

Summary

Introduction

Education has been receiving considerable attention in management, considering the attempt to introduce managerialist models of school management, which include the discussion of curricula, budget organization and human-resource management For this reason, Junquilho (2001) argues that it is not possible to separate management from its daily context; management as a practice can only be analyzed considering the institutional, organizational, and behavioral perspectives as integral parts of doing management School management, in this sense, is understood as an emergent and continuous process, produced by the interactions that take place in everyday school life (Poubel & Junquilho, 2019). The focus on practice leads us to understand school management as a socially constructed texture (Gherardi, 2006) that takes place in a plural context, full of uncertainties, much like the public school, for example School management in this context can be understood as the interweaving of various actors (principals, teachers, students, administrative staff, community, classrooms, books, etc.), characterizing itself as a form of social doing. What these approaches share is the notion that the social is made up of the interactions between human and non-human elements and that non-humans have a capacity for agency, to a greater or lesser extent according to the specifics of each approach

Methodological procedures

Conclusions

Conflict of interests