This paper highlights some of the results of a study performed under the scope of an European research project – Project Knowandpol – and subsequently developed in my master thesis (Menitra, C., 2009). The study was about the political process around autonomy and school management policies in Portugal, between 1986 and 2008. This paper will only focus on the political discourses that were produced in a deliberative scene – the Parliament. It is crucial to understand the notion of scene in this study, because it seeks to reinforce the idea that a policy should be seen as a “public action” that takes place in a set of interdependent scenes in which actions have a mutual impact on each other (Delvaux & Mangez, 2010). My aim is to describe and characterize the parliamentary discourse produced in this political process, stressing the importance attributed to the mobilization of different sorts of knowledge in the construction of the political argumentation used to criticize/support the measures and proposals that were under discussion – legal, ideological, technical, scientific, truisms, experience, “good practices” and to understand.  This case constitutes also a good example to point out some considerations about the the circulation of knowledge produced in other scenes by a great diversity of actors involved in this public action – academics, professionals and experts (Barroso, J., Menitra, C., 2009).

Barroso J. & Menitra, C. (2009). "Conhecimento e acção pública. Autonomia e gestão escolar em Portugal (1986-2009)". Relatório da Orientação 2 do Projecto Knowandpol. Menitra, C. (2009). "Autonomia e gestão das escolas no debate parlamentar português (1986-2008)". Dissertação de Mestrado. Instituto de Educação. Lisboa. Delvaux, B. et Mangez E. (June 2010).European Policy Brief Knowledge and policy: a new deal. Policy implications of KNOW&POL, an EU-funded research project involving twelve teams from eight countries.