Rede municipal de educação de São Luís/MA : proposta de formação continuada e participação docente (2002-2007)

Abstract

This research was guided by a study carried about teachers´ participation in the discussion about educational policies. The purpose was to analyze the participation of teachers from the municipal educational system in the city of São Luís/MA in the organization of a proposal for continuous learning for teachers in-service, under the perspective of a program called "Programa São Luís Te Quero Lendo e Escrevendo" (PSLTQLE). The investigation covered years 2002 to 2007 and involved on 111 elementary school teachers and 19 schools from 7 nuclei of the public system. The methodology used was a qualitative research based on questionnaires that were distributed and document analysis to support the data. With the data collected, it was possible to analyze that, in the context of public policies, some practices need to be rethought or developed in a democratic perspective of participation. Under those circumstances, it is possible to describe a few advances, such as: a better understanding of the responsibilities and duties for those institutions that make it available and ensure participative rights in educational public policies, from the way they are promoted; the decision making by the teachers for the construction of some political awareness, conceiving education as a political act; promotion of actions that enabled a better understanding of the teachers, pedagogical coordinators, and educational managers for participative processes. However, there are some mishaps I see as a limitation for the development of an effective and efficient policy characterized by the fragility in building a work agenda that may contemplate the political education of the educators themselves. In addition to that, this policy should fight segregation observed in the way the educators are called to participate in the organization of the proposals. Still, I point out that it became explicit to our eyes that the elements that constitute the proposal for continuous education bring along common objectives and dichotomic views that need to be defined upon dialog. And despite such limitations it is coherent to disregard the importance of how PSLTQLE is structured in order to elaborate the proposal for continuous education for the Municipal Education Bureau (Secretaria Municipal de Educação de São Luís/MA), thus ractifying that, without the possibilities of participating, all policies become unsustainable.