The Growing Gap Between Policy, Official Claims and Classroom Realities: Insights from Colombian Mathematics Teachers´ Conceptions of Beginning Algebra and its Teaching Purpose

<span class="reice">Since the creation of the General Education Law in 1994, education authorities have maintained that Colombia has embarked in an <em>education revolution</em> and that schools have <em>curricular autonomy</em> to quality of the education off...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Cecilia Agudelo Valderrama
Format: Article
Language:Spanish
Published: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid 2018-10-01
Series:Revista Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación
Subjects:
Online Access:https://revistas.uam.es/index.php/reice/article/view/10102
Description
Summary:<span class="reice">Since the creation of the General Education Law in 1994, education authorities have maintained that Colombia has embarked in an <em>education revolution</em> and that schools have <em>curricular autonomy</em> to quality of the education offered to the community. Teachers have been called to become permanent builders of this curriculum; which should be grounded in the idea of creating <em>citizens able to critique</em>as one of the ultimate ends of education. The results of this study – focused in the conceptions of 13 math professors for algebra teaching, said individuals had had a varied professional experience and worked in both private and public institutions.- show a different reality. Teachers emphasized their purpose of preparing students to be able to master symbolic expressions as a prerequisite to further courses and to improve their performance in the ICFES exams. These findings speak to us about <em>the why</em> of the identified gap, and warn about the need of creating crucial conditions for change in the educational system; and to provide real development and empowerment opportunities to the teachers. </span><span class="rinace_norm style82" style="font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span>
ISSN:1696-4713