ConselhoEdu: nuances de uma pesquisa com enfoque na gestão participativa

Abstract

This book, “ConselhoEdu: Nuances of a research focusing on participatory management”, originates from a research project titled “ConselhoEdu: Development of a platform for training and participatory management of Education Councils,” funded by the Rio Grande do Sul State Research Foundation (Fapergs), through the support for Applied Research Projects from Federal Institutes in Partnership with Requesting Institutions (Fapergs Call No. 04/2020). Conceived by a group of researchers who make up the Study Group on Educational Policies and Management (GEPGE) at the Federal Institute Farroupilha, the book brings together the productions of the group's participants, guided by the understanding of participation as an essential element for the consolidation of democratic and participatory management. The project members are affiliated with different institutions and bring a diversity of ideas and contexts as a constitutive part of the GEPGE study group. The construction of this book took place during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the Fapergs call was launched. The group, utilizing digital platforms for the first time to hold meetings, realized they could use the moment to elaborate a collective applied research project, as requested by the Fapergs call. What motivated the project participants, who came from various campuses of the Federal Institute Farroupilha, other institutions, and had different backgrounds, was the necessity that the project should result in some practical application, and that it should be a tool for Democratic Management processes in Education, in line with the ideals of the research group. In a processual manner, several training meetings were held during the project’s construction, covering the adopted methodology, programming, Democratic Management, and participatory processes. These activities provided rich moments of continuing education for all group members. Furthermore, one of the prerequisites for the project to be submitted to the Fapergs Call was the survey of needs from demanding institutions, which, in this case, were the municipal secretariats of education in the municipalities surrounding the Alegrete campus. They were consulted to indicate the latent needs of each secretariat. The municipalities of Alegrete and Manoel Viana (in Rio Grande do Sul), through their Municipal Education Councils, became part of the study group and jointly built the paths followed by the project, from its organization, study, elaboration, and experimentation of a platform for the training and participatory management of Education Councils.