Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

O Currículo Oficial de Geografia do Estado de São Paulo e os Conceitos Geográficos Escolares

2013; Linguagem: Inglês

2639-6459

Lílian Maria dos Santos,

Science and Education Research

This work is linked to the search line Policy, School Organisation and Teacher Training, in the Post-Graduation in Education, in the Faculty of Science and Technology of the Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Presidente Prudente campus SP. This work is an analysis of the current Official Curriculum of Geography for Elementary School Cycle II in Sao Paulo, with the purpose of reflecting on the importance of school Geographical Concepts, inserted in the Official Curriculum document of the State of Sao Paulo (COESP). The research was directed towards an investigation of the Geography Curriculum contextualizing Geographical Concepts and changes in the state education. Thus, analysis of curriculum theories was performed in a debate that included the various conceptions of curriculum, Geography and its teaching, focus on understanding the methodological theoretical perspective inserted in the material, beyond the understanding of its genesis and implications contained in the educational policy process in relation to this new Curriculum. Thus, along with the literature, allowing us greater understanding of the subject, we sought the articulation between the methodology of documentary analysis, qualitative techniques and interviews. The interviews were conducted in twelve schools in Presidente Prudente, with two teachers per school, totaling twenty-four respondents. Results conceived through methodology reported support of most teachers in the use of the material and its high concept as an educational tool in the preparation of lesson plans, assessments and curriculum guidelines. Regarding Geographical Concepts the material prioritizes for Elementary School's learning: Territory, Place, Landscape and Cartography / Mapping Education. These concepts are present in the material for teacher and student, which are responsible for developing this educational policy. The treatment of these concepts requires greater attention from teachers, especially when working with: Cartographic Education / Cartography and Place. In Cartographic Education teachers pointed out deficiencies regarding the graphic quality of the maps (print), in its composition aspects (title, caption, location, scale) and the methodology used to develop the Concept in the classroom (insufficient amount of classes for work with learners). The Concept of Place, although well rated along to teachers because of its easy to understand, does not appear in the notebook of the teacher and the student as notebook contents to be worked, leaving to the teacher teach it in line with the Concept of Landscape. Teachers also demonstrated their displeasure regarding the policies of external evaluation with the System Evaluation of Educational Achievement of Sao Paulo (SARESP), and consequently Index of Sao Paulo Development (IDESP), which are responsible for evaluating the productivity of the school unit, meaning that when the unit fails to reach expected indexes it did not receive the financial incentive bonuses and teachers feel guilty about it. Thus, we find that this Public Policy developments brought to Sao Paulo educational setting, where, in addition to homogenization Curriculum, the Geography started to prioritize some concepts over others and assess differently the rates of school performance.