Abstract:

The responsibilities of teachers as curriculum managers are today a challenge given the curricular flexibility. These challenges stem from the discourse of autonomy and the capacity for collaborative deliberation of teachers, which refers to decisions at the level of educational policy, which can be operated in the transformation of schools oriented to the success and meaningful learning of students. This article aims to present a part of a more comprehensive project entitled "Beliefs, knowledge, and practices of teachers". It analyzes the voice of the leaders of eleven clusters of schools of the Intermunicipal Community of Lands of Trás-os-Montes (CIM-TTM), Portugal. The study follows a qualitative methodology, using group interviews, as a data collection technique, with school principals, department coordinators, and class directors. From the content analysis on the school, category emerged the following subcategories: meanings of curriculum and curriculum management. The data reveal that participants associate the concept of the curriculum with knowledge, disciplinary content, experience, learning, and school. The influence of the hidden curriculum in the teaching and learning process was perceived, and its political connotation and utopian sense. Regarding the management of the curriculum, the teacher emerged in the participant's conceptions as an executor, a builder, and a decision-maker. The curriculum was specifically recognized as guidance and control over compliance with the program.

In the context of curricular flexibility, the:
(i) the adequacy to specific contexts was emphasized;
(ii) the integration of the regional or local component of the curriculum;
(iii) hope for curricular flexibility: recognition of potentialities and limitations;
(iv) the discrepancy between design and implementation.

In conclusion, it points to the need to respond to the current and future challenges of the school, to value the curriculum for the creation of opportunities favorable to the success of students.

Keywords:

Teachers' beliefs, school, curricular flexibility, school leaders.