Local Educational Policies, Educational Charts and Educational Strategic Plans - challenges and decisions in two contexts

Abstract

From the beginnings of the Portuguese Democracy to the present, several diplomas and legal regulations have been published in order to transfer competences from the Central State to the Local Administration, mainly in education. This process, designated by decentralization of competences, has given responsibilities in the management of the municipal school network to the municipalities, with the elaboration of the Educational Charter, and the definition of local educational policies, through the construction of the Municipal Educational Strategic Plan. These two instruments, developed at the local level, aim at the definition of strategies that respond efficiently and effectively to the territorial challenges (demographic, socioeconomic and educational) and to the current and future needs of the local educational community, aiming at improving their levels of education, quality of life and well-being. In order to understand how the Municipalities build the local education strategies, the processes and products (Educational Charter and Municipal Education Strategic Plan) of two cases (County A and B) were analyzed. This study allowed to identify four fundamental components for the construction of these strategies: i) Strategic Diagnosis, ii) Auscultation Process, iii) Strategic Construction and iv) Monitoring. The observation of the two processes also made it possible to highlight a set of challenges underlying each of the stages and anticipate possible solutions. The results obtained can constitute a guiding script in the development of this type of instruments by external or internal teams to the local authorities