The teachers’ conception about the ownership of Mathematical knowledge for children with Down syndrome

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand, from the conception of the teachers, how to occur the access and the ownership of mathematical knowledge of children with Down syndrome from its participation in the context of the classroom in regular school. Three teachers that worked with Down syndrome students took part and answered a semi-structured interview, whose purpose was to identify and examine how they provide access to mathematical knowledge for children with Down syndrome. The results showed that the children with Down syndrome are not having much less access to appropriate mathematical concepts in these schools, since the practices of teachers have been limited to oral presentation to teach all children, including children with Down syndrome, denying their specificity or any other child. Schools participating in this study remain grounded in a paradigm school homogenizer and meritocratic, where the individual and social differences are seen as prerequisites for the exclusion.