National curricular parameters for mathematics: From the creation of the kaleidoscope to the necessity to look back to move forward

Abstract

Background: In the last decades in Brazil, the prescriptions of the official curricular documents of school mathematics have been constituted as a practice of successive governments. However, there is still little research on the participation of mathematics teachers and educators in the construction of these prescriptions. Objective: To present the perspective of the research collaborator in the general coordination of the PCNs (National Curriculum Parameters) in the area of Mathematics (3rd and 4th cycles of elementary education). Design: This is a qualitative research, with the production of a documentary source through interviews with thematic oral history procedures. Setting and participants: The research collaborator was professor Dr. Célia Maria Carolino Pires, and the interviews were conducted at her residence. Data collection and analysis: Oral sources were used, in the form of interviews with a researcher in the field of mathematics education, as well as written sources that complemented the necessary information. Results: This article presents a thematic section that, on the one hand, makes public the opinions of a person who actively participated in the elaboration and diffusion of the PCNs; and, on the other hand, it invites us to reflect on how - in the last 50 years in Brazil - primary school teachers have had the opportunity to be supporting/protagonists in terms of curriculum production, and how this production has been conducted and understood as a government policy (and political parties) and not a State policy. Conclusions: The article presents considerations made by a participant engaged in the process of elaborating and disseminating the Mathematics PCNs for the 3rd and 4th cycles of elementary education and - in addition - it was constructed to promote a reflection on more recent themes that include, for example, to think about how external assessments start to induce the production of curricula, functioning as thermometers that supposedly can capture the productivity indices of the school system and, at the same time, promote more symptoms of the illness they intend just to "gauge".