Centralisation and decentralisation in the educational system

Abstract

The development of the Portuguese educational system, like that of the majority of western education systems, was marked, from the end of the 18^th century, by the permanent strengthening of three tendencies: integration, unification and centralisation. These organising principles of education coincided with broader phenomena in historical development: the formation of nation-states, the democratization of societies, the development of capitalism, the growth of Public Administration, the affirmation of the welfare state and the emergence of modern social rights, namely the right to education and culture. These tendencies took place as much in economically advanced countries as in those which were not so advanced, and in democratic systems as well as in authoritarian regimes. For good or for bad, unification and centralisation were responses to historical needs and are today guaranteed by law and rooted in custom. An uninhibited re-examination of contemporary educational systems, in many countries in a state of crisis, would be able to produce evidence of the need to abandon these three principles which preside over its notion and its functioning.