Paraná state curriculum guidelines and Paraná curriculum reference: comparative analysis in light of historical-critical pedagogy

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze and discuss the main differences between the Curricular Guidelines for Basic Education - Chemistry Notebook (portuguese acronyn: DCEs), from 2008, and the Paraná Curriculum Reference for High School (portuguese acronyn: RCPR), from 2021, regarding their conceptions of education and curriculum. The focus was on the Natural Sciences and Technologies area, specifically the Chemistry curriculum component. This qualitative study was based on documental research. The critical analysis of the curricular documents was grounded in Historical-Critical Pedagogy and its theorists. The results indicated that the DCEs proposed an education oriented towards a critical understanding of reality and access to scientific knowledge as an instrument for emancipation and humanization. In this context, Chemistry Teaching was understood as a means to develop theoretical thinking and enable students to critically interpret the material and social world. In turn, the RCPR reflects the incorporation of the directives from the National Common Curricular Base and the High School Reform (Law no. 13.415/2017), focusing on a pragmatic curriculum concept geared towards competences development, reducing human development to the dimension of employability and productivity. In the context of Chemistry education, this shift limits the possibility of developing in students a deep theoretical and conceptual understanding of matter, its transformations, and its impacts on society.