Educational decentralization as a political-discursive construction: problematization, promises, and governance in Portugal

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5212/retepe.v.11.26462.012

Abstract

Educational decentralization has been widely promoted as a solution to problems associated with the inefficiency and rigidity of central government and is frequently analyzed as a response to pre-existing problems. This article examines how decentralization is constructed and operationalized in education policy in Portugal from a critical perspective grounded in the Epistemologies of Education Policy Approach (EEPA). Methodologically, it combines the Policy Cycle Approach with the What’s the Problem Represented to Be? (WPR) approach and applies this integrated framework to a corpus of legal, policy, and institutional documents. The findings show that decentralization is constructed through the problematization of centralism as a pathology, the mobilization of promises of modernization, proximity, and efficiency, and the introduction of governance rationalities based on accountability and steering at a distance, while territorial inequalities remain unaddressed. The article concludes that decentralization does not entail a reduction in state control, but rather its reconfiguration, thereby consolidating forms of “decentralized centralism”. From a methodological and epistemological standpoint, the study contributes to understanding education policies as contingent and historically situated discursive constructions and shows, through the Portuguese case, how they are embedded in broader processes of educational governance reconfiguration.

Keywords: Educational decentralization. Educational governance. Problematization.

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Author Biographies

  • Catarina Rodrigues, University of Aveiro

    Catarina Rodrigues is a researcher at the Center for Research on Didactics and Technology in Teacher Education (CIDTFF) at the University of Aveiro, where she conducts her research as part of the Doctoral Program in Education, specializing in educational administration and policy. She completed her master’s degree in public management at the University of Aveiro in 2006 and her master’s degree in educational sciences, with a specialization in educational administration and policy, in 2012. She holds postgraduate degrees in local education management (Catholic University) and in public policy evaluation (IPPS-ISCTE). Her research focuses primarily on education, decentralization, privatization, educational policy, educational governance, and school management. She is currently a member of the Portuguese Forum on Educational Administration.

  • Andreia Gouveia, University of Aveiro

    Andreia Gouveia is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education and Psychology at the University of Aveiro and holds a Ph.D. in Education, specializing in Educational Administration and Policy. She is a researcher at the Center for Research in Didactics and Technology in the Training of Trainers (CIDTFF) at the same university. Her career in higher education combines teaching, research, academic advising, and supervision of curricular internships, with a focus on the fields of Educational Administration, Educational Policy, and the Sociology of Education. Concurrently, she serves as an external consultant for private and cooperative educational institutions, as well as for private-sector organizations, both nationally and internationally, developing projects to support educational management and pedagogical innovation. She is also a CCPFC-accredited trainer, an external expert for the General Inspectorate of Education and Science, and an external evaluator for the DEC project—Development and Education in Daycare (ProChild CoLAB). Her areas of interest include educational policy, educational administration, educational inequalities, social justice, the sociology of education, and early childhood education.

  • António Augusto Neto-Mendes, University of Aveiro

    António Neto-Mendes is a professor at the University of Aveiro and a researcher with the CIDTFF Research Center. He was a secondary school teacher and has experience as a school manager in non-tertiary and university education. He has experience in undergraduate and postgraduate training in Portugal and abroad. Her research interests are diverse and are presented here under two headings: i) educational policies, decentralization processes and the privatization of education; ii) the complex construction of school results and the role of explanations. He is currently a member of the Portuguese Society of Educational Sciences, the Portuguese Forum for Educational Administration and the National Education Council.

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Published

2026-06-22

Issue

Vol. 11 (2026)

Section

Artículos

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Copyright (c) 2026 Catarina Rodrigues, Andreia Gouveia, António Augusto Neto-Mendes

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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If the article is accepted for publication, copyright of this article will be vested in the The Journal of Theoretical and Epistemological Studies on Education Policy.


Licença Creative Commons
Este obra está licenciado com uma Licença Creative Commons Atribuição 4.0 Internacional.

 

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

 

Licencia de Creative Commons
Este obra está bajo una licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento 4.0 Internacional.

How to Cite

Educational decentralization as a political-discursive construction: problematization, promises, and governance in Portugal. Revista de Estudios Teóricos y Epistemológicos en Política Educativa, [S. l.], v. 11, p. 1–20, 2026. DOI: 10.5212/retepe.v.11.26462.012. Disponível em: https://revistas.uepg.br/index.php/retepe/article/view/26462. Acesso em: 23 jun. 2026.

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