A view on the autonomy of public schools

Abstract

The autonomy of public schools in Portugal has been widely discussed both from a juridical and an educational point of view. It has been subject to all kinds of theoretical approaches, but not fully applied to schools in its true meaning and extent. In this paper the author’s discuss some of the reasons that historically lead to this reality, and try to present a definition for school autonomy that is based on differentiated educational projects for each school with full managing empowerment to pursue them, by means of public contractualization, subject to regulatory control. Lastly, some of the legal, political and practical limitations are brought to light, and some routes of resolution are suggested.