THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS IN RURAL SCHOOLS
Most research on mathematics education in Brazil focuses on schooling in urban areas.
Therefore, this paper presents a discussion that is fairly rare among Brazilian academic studies.
Generally speaking, in Brazil, there is a common perception that rural schools are institutions
without resources to provide good teaching, and therefore do not provide the elements to
guarantee students’ learning processes. In fact, statistics (Brasil, 2005) indicate that in Brazil
many state primary schools (including those located in rural areas) do not have basic
infrastructural equipment (approximately 22 000 schools do not have toilets and 27 000 do not
have electricity). However, this aspect cannot be the only factor which influences the students’
performance, because in the last few years the government has implemented important projects
which are changing the infrastructure of many state schools, but the level of achievement
remains very low. Therefore it seems that the effective teaching of mathematics is a complex
issue, and the increase in quantity of resources available is not a factor that will solve this issue.
Knijnik (2004) argues that mathematical knowledge has been linked to the economic power of
dominant social classes. The contents of mathematics and practices of teaching and learning
mathematics in school would be linked to the values and interests of the dominant class. Under
these conditions, schools would be presenting only a limited mathematical knowledge, denying
the importance of knowledge and practices related to specific contexts, such as those developed
in rural areas. Knijnik (2004) emphasizes that mathematics curricula should make knowledge
accessible to students of all classes and social contexts. Thus, diverse populations, regardless of
their social position, should have access to the relationship between the practices of everyday
life and schooling.
Knijnik has investigated these practices in an environment of social movements, such as the
Landless’ Movement and rural communities (Knijnik, 1996, 1998, 2004). She highlights that
students should be led to think and rethink mathematical situations from their realities,
especially those professional activities which include local mathematical practices.
Garnica and Martins (2006) argue that stereotypes about rural schools are linked to historical
aspects of mathematics teaching. These authors analyzed interviews of rural school inspectors,
teachers and students in 1950 and 1970. In the interviews respondents were asked to report their
experiences with the teaching and learning of mathematics. The analyses of the responses