FROM INFLUENCE TO POLICY TEXTS: THE RECONFIGURATION OF CONTINUING TEACHER EDUCATION POLICIES IN THE PORTO ALEGRE MUNICIPAL SCHOOL SYSTEM

Abstract

This article analyzes how the networks of influence shaping educational policies under the current administration of the Porto Alegre Municipal Department of Education (2025-2026) are articulated with the production of policy texts that reconfigure continuing teacher education policies in the Porto Alegre Municipal School System. The documentary research focuses on the period between 2025 and 2026 and draws on the policy cycle approach, with emphasis on the contexts of influence and policy text production. Legal and institutional documents, public statements, social media posts, and news reports were analyzed. In the context of influence, we identified public actors, third-sector organizations, think tanks, and advocacy movements associated with notions of efficiency, innovation, professionalization, evidence, and results-based management. In the context of policy text production, these notions are recontextualized in initiatives such as GEDUC, EFCE, and PROFORCE. The analysis indicates a shift from the dispersion of responsibilities for continuing education toward its institutional recentralization. We conclude that this renewed emphasis combines investments in professional development with managerial mechanisms of accountability, intensification, and regulation of teachers’ work.