Ouvidoria, participação social e práticas educativas: caminhos para mediação de conflitos na Rede Federal de Educação Profissional, Científica e Tecnológica

Abstract

This study aims to understand and analyze the Ombudsman's Office, social participation, and educational practices as paths for conflict mediation in the Federal Network of Professional, Scientific and Technological Education (RFEPCT). The study focuses on understanding the reality of institutional practices for conflict prevention and mediation and identifying the potential for creating Conflict Mediation Chambers in the RFEPCT. It also seeks to identify the weaknesses, contradictions, and potential of the Ombudsman's Offices in the RFEPCT institutions, in comparison with the Ombudsman's Offices of federal public universities. This is a qualitative and quantitative research of an exploratory nature, with a time frame demarcated for the period of the last 5 years. Regarding the research methodology, it begins with a bibliographic review, followed by the study of documents related to the theme Public Ombudsman's Office in the Federal Network, in addition to a questionnaire proposed to the representatives of the Ombudsman's Offices of 42 RFEPCT institutions. Regarding the theoretical framework, knowledge of the reality of Ombudsman's Offices and the data collected in this field of study are analyzed based on the following explanatory categories: federal public administration, organizational theories, Ombudsman's Office in public institutions, Ombudsman's Office in RFEPCT, Ombudsman's Office as a space for social participation, conflict prevention and mediation, Ombudsman's Office as a space for educational practices for conflict mediation, Conflict Mediation Chamber and integration of the Ombudsman's Office into the institutional governance plan and accountability practices. The studies by Sioli (2017), Gutiérrez & Duran (2019), Moreira et al. (2022), Riche (2021, 2022), Santos et al. (2019) and Falcão & Ribeiro (2021) contribute to the analyses on Ombudsman's Office. The studies by Gaulia & Pacheco (2019), Perez et al. (2011), Rosenberg (2006, 2019), Vasconcelos (2017, 2023), Warat (2001, 2023) and Rabinovici et al. (2022) are important for analyses on conflict prevention and mediation, in addition to a conflict mediation chamber. The results of the research indicate that of 42 RFEPCT institutions, 52.38% develop actions for conflict prevention, 42.86% develop actions for conflict mediation and only 1 of them has a Conflict Mediation Chamber. The research makes it clear that there is a need to integrate the Ombudsman's Offices into institutional governance plans and their accountability practices. The study reveals that members of the internal community often directly contact the Ombudsman's Office services, without first exhausting the possibilities for resolving conflicts or exploring all the paths of specific administrative bodies to resolve disagreements between people and sectors or nonconformities in the functioning of public services. The results of the study show that efforts to implement Conflict Mediation Chambers, combined with the integration of the Ombudsman's Office with the governance plans and accountability actions of RFEPCT institutions, are management strategies that can provide greater transparency in their activities and the responsiveness of their employees, in fulfilling the social function of these public institutions.