Schools – torn between the logics of competition and cooperation: global forms of regulation in a portuguese local context

Abstract

In the context of the transformations, for the last three decades, of national educational system’s modes of regulation, this paper aims to discuss the educational “quasi-market” concept and its application to a Portuguese local context. A first analysis of the interdependencies between private and public schools in that context stresses, on the one hand, some elements related to the “competitive logic”; on the other hand, shows its close articulation with other modes of regulation, namely those of a voluntary and horizontal nature, arising from a “collaborative” logic.