CONTRIBUIÇÕES DE STEPHEN BALL E COLABORADORES PARA O ESTUDO DE POLÍTICAS DE CURRÍCULO

Abstract

The text presents some theoretical formulations of English sociologist Stephen Ball which can contribute to the study of curriculum policies. It is a brief explanation on policy cycle approach and the theory of policy enactment pointing constructs that call on field researchers on educational policies to transcend the understanding that policies are impositions, something that “comes from the top”, that someone plans and writes, establishes a text, and another “implements”. To Ball and his collaborators, the professionals involved in policy interpretations and the materialization of those texts into practice, have equivalent power and importance compared to the other subjects and agents who took part in the discursive formulations and policy creation. Thus, they affirm that the creation of educational policies is a continuous process, inevitably marked by disputes between groups with conflicting interests, in which texts are repeated attempts to reinvent the practices, as well as practices constantly translate the recreation of the texts.