Abstract

GUIMARAES, Tereza Cristina de Almeida  and  BERNADO, Elisangela da Silva. A question of merit: access to vacant places at a municipal public school in São Gonçalo. Educ. Rev. [online]. 2021, vol.37, e77643.  Epub Nov 08, 2021. ISSN 1984-0411.  https://doi.org/10.1590/0104-4060.77643.

This study aims to present the results of a study carried out in a public school in the city of São Gonçalo in the State of Rio de Janeiro in 2019, demonstrating the assumptions underlying the action of the school principal/bureaucrat in relation to vacant places at the school and the influence of his administrative discretion on the results of education policy. From an interpretativist research perspective, we analyzed the discretionary act of the school principal/bureaucrat as a factor in addressing or consolidating educational inequalities, based on data resulting from a semi-structured interview with the school principal, reflecting on the interaction of that bureaucrat with citizens who seek the benefits of education policies and the guarantee of rights. As a result of such interaction, we found distinct forms of discretion, rooted in the microcultures of bureaucratic practice, revealing processes that both include and exclude, based on the interference of endogenous and exogenous factors emanating from the bureaucrat's relations with the community.

Keywords : Bureaucracy; Education policy; School principal/bureaucrat; Discretion; Inequality.

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