Citizen competency standards in Colombia in textbooks

Abstract

A school plays a central role in the formation of citizens if it is taken into account that from the school context there could be a contribution to the construction of social agents able to act politically within and in front of the state. The purpose of this article is to share some thoughts about the analysis of how the Colombian State, in its proposals for the formation of its citizens is stated in the basic standards in citizenship competences published by the Ministry of Education in the year 2004. These standards have been applied to texts in basic high school education (6th to9th) in the question: “How is the state proposal for the formation of citizens expressed in texts?” This question parts from two ideas: first, although the use of text books has received criticism, these texts books are still the main working tool in the classroom for many Colombian teachers. Second, that even though these books introduce a different view and presentation, they do not break away from the traditional teaching and learning methods.