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Rationality. School Council. Participation.
This research aims to identify and analyze the rationality(ies) that manifests itself in the deliberative practices of the Councils of municipal public elementary schools in Mossoró/RN. The research engenders reflections based on Jürgen Habermas' theoretical basis about the core of these Councils, their principles and reasons, and what logic is, in fact, being reverberated by the participation of the councilors. The research locus is two Elementary School Councils (1st to 9th grade) of the Municipal Education Network of Mossoró/RN, with the most representative councils located in the east and west zones of the city. With a qualitative approach, the research presents as its methodological trail: bibliographic review; documentary research; non-participant observation carried out in regular and extraordinary meetings; and semi-structured online interviews conducted with full members of each of the segments represented in the School Councils studied. The analyses highlight the presence of communicative rationality and instrumental rationality operating in the dispute for the coordination of action in the context of the school councils analyzed. The documentary analysis reveals a strong influence of managerialism on the educational policy of Mossoró, reverberating in the deliberative practices of the municipal education network of Mossoró/RN, principles such as regulation, accountability and management by results, which are aligned with instrumental rationality and strategic action. In view of this, it is suggested that, although the School Council is constituted as a public sphere, the deliberative practices of the collegiate bodies cannot be fully implemented through communicative rationality due to the systemic colonization launched by the logic supported by managerial assumptions.