Percepção de barreiras e suportes na carreira acadêmica dos estudantes de matemática: um estudo de gênero

Abstract

The present work with a qualitative approach aims to analyze how the barriers and supports perceived by Mathematics students in their trajectories are related to their gender and how they influence the continuity of the female academic career, as well as to identify the relationships with the teaching process of Mathematics experienced by these students.To progress this investigation, two state public Higher Education Institutions which offering courses in Mathematics at the Undergraduate and Graduate levels (Master and Doctorate) were selected. In the first stage of data collection, electronic questionnaires were sent, according to the level of education of the students, and 48 responses were voluntarily obtained, 19 of them from students identified with the female gender and 29 with the male gender. After an initial analysis of the answers given to the questionnaires, eight female students were selected and invited to present detailed opinions about the topics that were brought to discussion with the answers obtained on questionnaires. Among these, only six students returned contact. For the analysis, we adopted the creation of categories, due to the similarity of the data. These groups were built in accordance with the adopted bibliography, which are: Internal/Individual, Social, Parental/Family, Institutional/School, Social, Environmental and Financial. The analyses shows that it is possible to infer that situations of encouragement and / or discouragement, whether from parents or teachers, seem to have a direct influence on the self-confidence of female students and that they have less confidence in their mathematical skills in relation to male students. Such condition may be a reflect of a masculine social image of the mathematician, reaffirming discourses and beliefs regarding the relationship of girls / women with mathematics in the family environment and, especially, in the school context. It is noteworthy that teaching practices can also be unequal, as was identified in some reports of female students. In addition, it was identified that the difficulties posed to the female mathematical career, from the initial stages of schooling to the higher positions of the academic career, affect with a progressive effect, so that the barriers reported by the girls / women change, they take over other forms and increase along their trajectories. It is also possible to identify that traditions and social pressures can also contribute so that women have to seek in different ways to adapt to the academic mathematical environment, as they are an expressive minority, which can generate conflicts with issues related to the female gender, such as maternity. After identifying the main barriers and supports that are perceived by students from this two institutions with respect to the continuity of the mathematical academic career, we perceived that it is important to extend this study to other institutions in other regions. In this way, information about the Brazilian mathematical career and aspects of mathematics teaching in the country can be obtained, which would make it possible to think about minimizing barriers and maximizing forms of support. It also points out the need for a more in-depth analysis of the relationships between such factors and the mathematics teaching process, since the data obtained in this investigation shows that many factors are consequences of students' experiences, even in the school environment.