Abstract

DELGADO, Fátima; LEITE, Carlinda  and  FERNANDES, Preciosa. Redeeming the plan of mathematics in Portugal: a curriculum contextualization experience of promoting school success. e-Curriculum [online]. 2016, vol.14, n.4, pp.1395-1422. ISSN 1809-3876.  https://doi.org/10.23925/1809-3876.2016v14i4p1395.

In Portugal, Mathematics as a discipline of the school curriculum has been marked by school failure and low results obtained by students both in national external assessment tests (Standardized Tests and National Exams) and international tests (PISA). To counter this situation, educational policies have been implemented that are intended to improve the processes of teaching mathematics and increase the success of students in this discipline. One of these measures, it was the Plan of Mathematics (2006), proposed by the Socialist government, where each school was encouraged to submit a project organized in order to improve the performance of students to the discipline and thus ensure greater cognitive justice. Based on this measure, this paper presents a study, which examines the place of curricular contextualization in Mathematics in the 3rd cycle of basic education in Portugal (2012-2016). In particular, the article analyses effects of the experience lived by teachers in the development of the project, Plan of Mathematics, and its implications for curricular practices for the promotion of learning that materializes principles of cognitive justice and social justice. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with mathematics teachers about curriculum practices developed within the Plan of mathematics, and how they include curricular contextualization procedures. The discourses produced were analysed using content analysis. In other aspects, the results of the study indicate that the development of the Plan of Mathematics promoted curricular contextualization practices based on the subject/student, on the place/context, on the disciplinary knowledge contents and on the pedagogical practice. It also provides diversification of tasks, collaborative work between peers and self-assessment practices, showing that the central policies strongly influence the conditions that teachers have to develop the curriculum and even the education conceptions that they value.

Keywords : Plan of Mathematics; Mathematics Teachers Practices; Curricular Contextualization.

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