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 419
- Downloads 0
EDUCATION ABOUT DIET THROUGH CHEMISTRY LEARNING
In the last century chemistry played an important role in improving the quality of living. However, uncontrolled application of many chemistry achievements has resulted in a range of problems (environment pollution, foo...
DIRICHLET’S PRINCIPLE AS AN ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICAL MODEL IN MATHEMATIC EDUCATION
One important part of nowadays research in theory of mathematics education is focused on searching for some interesting and non-traditional mathematical topics and themes. The topic named the “Dirichlet’s Principle” is a...
GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION AND STUDY OF TERRITORY: POSSIBILITIES FOR INTEGRATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCES TEACHING
This paper is based on results of the research project: Guidelines for an Antioquia professorship and it aims to demonstrate the possibilities of curriculum integration that territory, as a matter of education, provid...
THE USAGE OF THE INTERNET IN TEACHING PHYSICS IN LITHUANIA: THE ANALYSIS OF A SITUATION AND PERSPECTIVES
A vision of a modern world can be hardly conveyed without Information and Communication Technology (ICT) recently having a powerful impact on all areas of life. The application of the latest ICT in the educational proce...
INCLUSIVE TOLERANCE AS A BASIS OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS
The article describes the results of the comparative analysis of tolerance as a basis of professional competence of prospective teachers, whose professional activity can be carried out under the conditions of education...