Educational Management and Institutional Autonomy in Colombia: A Critical Reading of the Current Regulatory Framework

Abstract

Since the 1991 Constitution and the 1994 General Education Law, the Colombian education system has experienced a growing expansion of regulations aimed at guaranteeing quality, equity, and accountability mechanisms. However, this essay argues that this regulatory proliferation has generated a structural tension between the centralized logic of the State and the diverse realities of educational institutions. Although the regulations formally recognize school autonomy, this autonomy is conditioned by ministerial guidelines, standardized indicators, and oversight mechanisms that limit the institutions' capacity for pedagogical and administrative adaptation. Based on an analysis of educational legislation, constitutional jurisprudence, and various critical studies on educational management, the text argues that institutional autonomy in Colombia operates more as a restricted concession than as an effective power. Furthermore, it demonstrates how policies on evaluation, quality, and institutional improvement have strengthened dynamics of performativity and managerialism, in which administrators and teachers prioritize compliance with indicators and reports over pedagogical reflection and the contextual needs of their communities. The essay concludes that the difficulties in educational management stem not only from implementation problems, but also from inherent contradictions in the political and regulatory design of the system. Consequently, it argues for the need to reconfigure the relationship between regulation and autonomy through policies developed with the active participation of educational communities, recognizing local knowledge and territorial conditions as fundamental elements for genuinely democratic and relevant educational management.