Tensions on the regulations defining the managerial positions in secondary education. The case of Mexico

Abstract

In 2013 the third article of the Mexican Constitution was reformed. This article regulates the educational services offered by the State. Consequently, a set of standards, known in Mexico, as Parameters and Indicators (PPI) defined the competences of school principals. A year later, the Agreements 97 and 98, published in the eighties, that define the organization and functioning of secondary schools were ratified in their general and technical modalities in the country. This condition led to the fact that the PPIs coexist with those agreements, generating tensions in the regulations that guide the administrative functions. The objective of this paper is to analyze, from a comparative approach, the current documents for the organization of the three modalities of secondary education in Mexico: general, technical and telesecundary. The specific objectives are to analyze the structures of the documents, the reconfiguration of the administrative positions and the review the principal´s roles functions as a result of the reform. Likewise, it suggests that promoting educational policies aimed at strengthening schools autonomy, without modifying the regulatory framework produces different kinds of tensions affecting school organization, as well as the managerial career and roles.

It concludes that the principals are in between roles defined by two different administrative models.