The elementary school curriculum: an investigation on knowledge and formation

• Grant number: 13/16270-7
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: December 01, 2013
• End date: November 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education - Curriculum
• Principal Investigator: Cláudia Valentina Assumpção Galian
• Grantee: Cláudia Valentina Assumpção Galian
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Educação (FE). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project come from the premises of the social reality (Young, 2007, 2011: Wheelahan, 2010, 2011, Moore, 2012) and has as its research problem: What is the knowledge considered relevant to be available in the Brazilian elementary school? Assuming the centralization of the specialized knowledge available in the school, what is proposed is an analysis of the curriculum of this point of view, that is: of the specific knowledge that is being brought up as relevant for the formation of the students. We will base our research on a documental analysis that will focalize official curriculum documents and semi-structurized interview with teachers in a public university and a public elementary school. What is expected as a result is the defining of a panorama of the different aspects identified in the official curricular documents and by the subjects of the research relating to the composition of a common curriculum for the elementary school and the conception of a proposed curriculum for this level of schooling that emphasizes the knowledge of Mathematics, Portuguese, Geography, Natural Science and Arts. Besides the proposition of a curriculum that represents the powerful knowledge to be available to the new generations, the analysis of the research data must bring important elements to enrich the doubts about the curriculum of Licenciature courses and the continuous formation of teachers, about the evaluated dimensions of the curriculum (external or internal to the school) and about the conception and the implementation of educational policies related to elementary schools. (AU)