Management times as moral regulation in Argentina. A study at the everyday work of a secondary school principal

Abstract

Since the 1990s, New Public Management has been a part of Argentina’s educational policies. Mainly, school-centered management and strategic planning are seen as imperative for establishing and sustaining schools’ efficiency. Delegating commitment and responsibility to schools is the key of this managerial logic. Here, we will analyze the dynamics of certain instruments, like management by project and plans for organizational improvement, as well as a set of practices that affect school principals. This article is part of a large research study on the regulatory processes in educational policies aimed at ensuring compulsory secondary schooling. We present a case study of a principal from a school located on the peripheries of the city of Córdoba. The students who attend this school are stricken by increasing social pauperization. Within the framework of governmentality studies in education and on the basis of our empirical research done at that school, we will discuss some of the aspects of school life regulation in management times. We propose that the particular way in which management logic is taken up in schools has direct effects on the lived experience, the actions and morality of those who work there.