TRENDS AND CHALLENGES OF MATHEMATICS EDUCATION IN MOZAMBIQUE (1975-2016)
Journal Title: Problems of Education in the 21st Century - Year 2017, Vol 75, Issue 2
Abstract
Mathematics has always been a diffcult issue, especially in the African countries. Mozambique is not an exception. This country had been colonized by Portugal until 1975. When the independence was obtained, a socialist regime was adopted (1977). The learning of mathematics entered the struggle against colonial and imperialistic ideas. Its best ally was Paulus Gerdes, one of the most relevant ethnomatematicians of the world, who carried out an intense promotion of this approach to mathematics in Mozambican school system. Albeit the great international impact of Gerdes’ ideas, Mozambique never implemented his methodology. When, at the end of the 80s, the country changed from socialism to liberalism, voting a democratic Constitution in 1990, its school system was aligned to the measures of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB). The most recent ones are represented by the Millennium Development Goals. Despite the various reforms of Mozambican school system, the results of Mozambican children in mathematics are among the worst in Africa. The reasons of such a failure are here explained, through a historical approach based on national documents. The most recent experiences of school reform carried out by international agencies together with national institutions are stressed. The negative results obtained by the Mozambican learners as to mathematics are due to several reasons: 1) a lack of consideration of the Mozambican cultural substrate; 2) an improper massifcation of the school system, where the quality of instruction has been neglected; 3) the specifc choice to marginalize mathematics education.
Authors and Affiliations
Luca Bussotti, Paolo Bussotti
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP35491
- DOI -
- Views 424
- Downloads 0
MIND THE GAP – THE IMPORTANCE OF REFLECTING ON DIFFERENT NOTIONS OF LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE WITHIN AND BETWEEN COGNITIVE AND EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES
Cognitive and educational sciences share a fundamental interest in learning. While theoretical bases and practical interests seem to match well at first sight, it is well worth to take a closer look. In the different dis...
PRINCIPALS’ WORK STORIES WITHIN NEO-LIBERAL SCHOOL REFORM
The purpose of this research is to investigate the work stories of four principals as they implement a neoliberal school reform program in their schools. Work stories were defned as explanatory frameworks the principals...
THE EFFECT OF TEACHER INSTRUCTIONS ON PRESERVICE TEACHER’S DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE
Trying to understand the knowledge base for teaching, the Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) was proposed as the main teacher’s knowledge. It amalgamates the specific knowledge and it is the difference between a teacher...
TEACHER HEALTH LITERACY: WHY DOES IT MATTER?
It is obvious, that education is one of the main social factors having influence on health. Health education is most effective at school, because it reaches a man at his most receptive period of life - childhood and adol...
SPECIFICITY OF COMMUNICATION PROCESS IN MILITARIZED EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
Communication is the exchange of information between sender who send and receiver who decode it. In an organization communication flows in downward, upward, lateral, external and diagonal directions. Communication proces...