In the Portuguese education system, progress towards decentralisation has traditionally been slow, despite the identification of the need to decentralise. This slow, not always consistent path towards decentralisation has taken two generically convergent routes: increasing the autonomy of schools and transferring competences to Municipalities (M) and, recently, to Intermunicipal Communities (IMC). These processes usually began with pilot projects in which schools, M and IMC could choose whether to participate. Considering the different rhythms of the municipal territories in the decentralisation process; the social construction of educational policies based on each agent's interpretation of the education system and policies and on the interactions between agents and actors with different capacities to intervene in the educational field; the gap between the formal acceptance of the process and its actual implementation; the local dynamics between schools, M and IMC prior to the implementation of thar process; we sought to study: (i) the perceptions of local actors about the roles to be played by the M/IMC; (ii) the dynamics of the M/IMC in the area of education; (iii) the differences between territories with and without experience in the process of transferring competences. We answered those questions with information collected 13 municipalities in a region in the Portuguese interior - 5 with experience and 8 with no previous experience in the process of transferring competences - where we carried out an in-depth diagnostic study to build regional and municipal strategic documents. The information was collected using a mixed methods approach through documentary research, 26 semi-structured interviews with school headmasters and municipal education councillors, and a questionnaire administered to teachers in the region. Results show a region of diverse understandings and dynamics, but also a tendency for actors of municipalities with previous experience in the process of transferring competences to be more inclined to see the M as the promoter of a local strategy, while in the other municipalities the idea that it can only be a partner stands out. Considering the real dynamics, in all 13 territories, the M/IMC are fundamental partners and promoters of local strategies, more so in the municipalities with previous experience, where the initial fears regarding the transferring of competences has already been overcome.

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decentralisation,local education policies,competences