Education Quality and School Management: A Dynamic Relationship

Abstract

Calidad educativa y gestión escolar: una relación dinámica

Qualidade educativa e gestão escolar: uma relação dinâmica

DOI: 10.5294/edu.2018.21.2.5

In Colombia, school management is used as a governmental tool to insert or introduce public policies that are designed to achieve cross-sector articulation and ensure the quality of education. In this respect, the quality of education appears on the scene with no clear conceptualization and causes friction between the official discourse and the actual circumstances of schools, which manage expectations and needs. Understanding the dynamics fostered by both school management and education quality within the everyday reality of schools allows for identifying institutional improvement processes that are consistent with the real possibilities schools face. The phenomenological research described in this article used documentary and semiotic analysis to review postgraduate theses presented by teachers for a master’s degree. The review was based on discursive-semiotic tools, as an analytic procedure that makes it possible to identify patterns that shape the work of teachers and school administrators, in what is envisioned as school management and education quality. The findings show education quality cannot be standardized or homogenized. Given the differences in existing conditions at schools, it is considered more of a goal than an indicator or specific result. To achieve substantial improvements, school management must do more than chart a particular course or route. It must call for an agreement on positions or stances in light of what is known about the capabilities and possibilities of the institution and the conditions that limit it.