Indigenous and imported primary school textbooks in Belize: A comparative study.

Abstract

The effects of the international knowledge system, the largely political internal mechanisms influencing textbook policy, and the justification of indigenously published textbooks impact on the amount of indigenous content found in textbooks. These issues do not stand alone, isolated from other conflicts and compromises over power and control. The pedagogical decision of imported or indigenous textbooks is framed by the social, historical and political climate. This study examined the differences in indigenous content between imported and indigenously published 'BRC textbooks' used in Belize. BRC language textbooks presented more Belizean culture than Nelson's New West Indian readers. BRC mathematics textbooks presented more practice exercises and fewer new concepts per lesson than CPM textbooks. The BRC textbooks are both a statement of a particular ideological perspective in a political debate over legitimate knowledge, as well as the material expression of a different educational approach and content from that of the MOE. Notably, the BRC struggle is symbolic of the debate over education as a system of reproduction or contestation of legitimate school knowledge.