Come educate with us: the encouragement of governments and schools to the coproduction of public education by students´ relative

Abstract

This study presents how government and schools have encouraged co-production of public education. Incentives were identified through documentary research on current legislation, and 10 in-depth interviews with school managers, using theoretical saturation as sampling method. A broad legislative apparatus was identified: encouraging coproduction by providing benefits to relatives who support students in the educational process, such as the Bolsa Família program; defining punishments for those who do not, such as loss of guardianship; and also ensuring environments that allows participation, such as school councils and parents’ meetings. The schools encourage coproduction by using government policies, bringing student´s relatives closer to the school, and using legal devices in cases of families´ negligence. This study improves the understanding of how encouragement of coproduction of public services occurs and provides a basis on which public policies to encourage coproduction can be formulated.

Public services coproduction; Public education; Government