This paper presents an illustrative empirical study on the evolution of public policies regulation modes concerning Science, as scientific activity is currently marked by a gradual intensification of external control. Focusing on the action of a public institute that operated in Portugal between 1989 and 2001, the study examines how the State sought to guide and influence educational research, in particular by creating a framework guided towards the production of useful knowledge for policy-making. In addition to these modes of institutional regulation, the study has also identified other modes of regulation, arising from the way researchers have appropriated these guidelines and policy makers have re-interpreted them, accounting for the complexity of public policies for Science.
Research; Regulation; Institute for Educational Innovation