The Creative Chain of Activities towards Educational Management Transformation: Findings from an Intravention Case Study

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore a formative intervention project that was developed for the Municipal Secretariat of Education in São Paulo, Brazil for the broad development of all levels of educational management (teacher educators, coordinators, principals, teachers and students). Thus, the creative chain of activities is a key theoretical framework for promoting critical collaboration in order to cross the boundaries of educational management organization. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use data from the Management in Creative Chains Project (Liberali, 2012), as a way to enable the wide development of all levels of educational management. Data comprise formative meetings in which different educational managers system take part in two settings, the regional board with 25 schools and one of the participating schools. The analysis is based on thematic content and argumentative organization, and on critical situations and the potentials they entailed. Findings: The study guides to the conclusions of the process of creative chain as a possibility to expand management in the educational system and its community. Research limitations/implications: Every time there is a change in the mayors, there are changes in the way of addressing school management in the city. However, after the project, considerations about the needs of the communities became part of the public policy regardless of who is in charge of the city and its educational system. Practical implications: This study can be used for transformation in the management and teaching and learning activities and improvement of the school-community relation. Social implications: Socially this study can lead to improvement in the quality of life in the community and at school. Originality/value: Differently from a top down educational management, which enables a reproductive chain, educational management in a creative chain, considering the community needs, enables subjects to become interdependent to expand and transform the activities in the educational system and hence the communities' reality.