School management in the vulnerable context: managing data for social justice

Abstract

This article aims to understand how school managers in regions of high social vulnerability reconcile the imperatives of managerialism with the demands necessary for social justice. Additionally, it contextualizes the application of these principles in educational processes. Through an exploratory and analytical-descriptive research approach, it presents an analysis based on responses from managers of state public schools in the metropolitan region of Greater ABC Paulista. The results of the study indicate evidence that converges towards the articulation of a non-centralizing educational leadership, composed of individuals who perceive school management as a collaborative and co-responsible relationship, with decision-sharing and decision-making built and mediated in the daily life of the school, stemming from these convergences. Although some results diverge from this practice, it is evident that terms such as ‘educational management’, ‘managerialism’, ‘good educational practices’, ‘performance’, and ‘performativity’ have become part of the vocabulary and the landscape, merging pedagogical and administrative spheres. The results suggest that a principal committed to understanding the data of their school beyond the numbers, who maintains a distributed and participative leadership, enables the creation of a favorable environment for both students and teachers.