Ensino de geografia na reforma curricular de 1951 e os livros didáticos de Aroldo de Azevedo

Abstract

This research has as its subject of study the 1951 Curricular Reform and the teaching of Geography. At this moment, the world was experiencing the post-war period and a heated and fruitful debate for the production of new concepts to support relations between nations. Due to the international political context, UNESCO made an appeal to nations, in which it proposed changes in the teaching systems, curricular programs and textbooks. From a national point of view, Brazil was going through a series of political, economic and social transitions. Given this scenario, we intend to investigate: how the 1951 Curricular Reform, more specifically the proposal for the teaching of Geography, is related to the world peace project propagated by Unesco and the construction of a society with new values? This investigation took place through documentary (laws and textbooks) and bibliographic research, seeking to highlight the process of social construction of the Geography curriculum, presenting the social groups involved in its construction; the pedagogical concepts in vogue, the influence on the selection of content and methodological instructions and the impact of curricular prescriptions in the Geography textbooks of Aroldo de Azevedo. We inferred from the analysis of the methodological instructions presented in the law, that the 1951 Reform was in dialogue with the calls made by UNESCO, renewing the curriculum, marking a first step in the construction of a more democratic society. Aroldo de Azevedo's first to fourth junior high school textbooks were based on a geographical explanation that favored the description of physical elements to the detriment of social aspects. In this sense, we understand that curricular reform does not always have absolute adherence, as it goes through tensions from different social groups.