Based on research done by 50 principals of Integrated Centers for Public Education, the Cieps, of the Rio de Janeiro state educational system, this article describes aspects of reality in schools in the year 2001. Comparisons are made with the time when they were implemented as a special government program, taking into consideration their functioning on a full time basis, their management difficulties, the activities offered, the number of students per school and the utilization and conservation of the facilities. It concludes that the variety in levels of teaching which they encompass and the concurrence of different time schedules in a single establishment demonstrate that the purpose of these schools is still poorly defined. The managers' opinions about the work developed in the Cieps which maintained a full time schedule reveal that they, quite often, consider them to be paternalistic, although this definition is vague and varied widely. After more than 15 years of existence, the trend to municipalizing primary education and the pressure for high school vacancies appear to be the greatest obstacles to maintaining these schools in accordance with their original concept.
FUL TIME EDUCATION; PUBLIC POLICIES; PUBLIC EDUCATION
