Textbooks in the Mathematics Curriculum Management: what is the role for the teacher?

The textbook continues to be a working tool widely used in schools, both by teachers and students. Despite the criticism it is subject to, especially by the negative impact it can bring to teachers' professionalism, this teaching material has managed to be considered as an important auxiliary of pedagogical practices. It is vital, therefore, to ascertain how textbooks are used by math teachers, trying to infer whether they use it as mere teaching aid or if it determines much of the work performed in and for the classroom. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation. It appears that the majority of the teachers who participated in the study include textbooks in their daily curricular activities, both in the preparation and the implementation of the teaching-learning processes. Most teachers don't use, as often as it would be desirable, other materials or educational sources, which, in addition to indicate a certain dependence of these teaching resources, can contribute to its progressive ‘de-professionalization’.

Keywords:
Textbooks; Pedagogical Practices; Curriculum Decisions; Teachers' Professionalism; Mathematics