ONGOING FORMATION THROUGH DISTANCE EDUCATION : WHAT ADMINISTRATORS OF PUBLIC SCHOLS IN GOIÁS WRITE ABOUT

Abstract

This article discusses themes developed in Goiás public school administrators’ end of course assignments for their Specialization Course in School Management, offered by the Faculty of Education of the Federal University of Goias in distance learning mode. The documentary research included texts which the teachers/administrators produced and whose titles were analyzed, as well as three studies focusing on the topic of parental involvement in school, a theme which presented greatest numerical frequency. The analyses of the titles of these studies, as well as the managerial aspects emphasized in the course, indicated that themes of a pedagogical dimension related to teaching-learning processes and (in)discipline were considered, in addition to other internal school issues. The analysis of the three studies focusing on the parent-school relationship confirmed that parent participation is perceived as a natural and necessary demand by administrators. On the other hand, when such participation is proposed, it comes about through preplanned actions on the part of the school based on assumed interests of parents or a need of the institution in the form of: meetings, group dynamics, murals of messages for parents, raffles, snacks, prayer, etc. These activities seem to be understood by school administrators as actions for parents, not with parents, which, from the standpoint of democratic administration, demands a rethinking of the concept of participation and how to make it feasible in the day-to-day of the school.