School Autonomy: perspectives and practices in the development of political projects

Abstract

State programs promoting school autonomy have been developed within the neo-liberal project and its state reform policies characterized by decentralization and privatization of social services. These programs were fostered as strategies to improve educational quality and equity, in the midst of the redefinition of the role of the state as guarantor of education as a social right. Disputing the neo-liberal view which led to the dismantlement of the welfare state, social movements arising from marginal sectors of society have implemented their own education projects, often working in collaboration with academia. In these projects, school autonomy is seen as a strategy to challenge existing social relations. In this paper, we compare and contrast the meanings attached to the notion of “school autonomy” and the characteristics of the social practices fostered by the educational programs promoted by two different agents, i.e. the state and social movements. Thus, we analyze in the case of Argentina a nation-wide program implemented by the National Ministry of Education (Programa Nueva Escuela Argentina para el Siglo XXI) as well as an educational program developed by a social movement (the Movimiento Nacional de Empresas Recuperadas).