Reflections on the effects of transnationalisation of curricula and the coloniality of knowledge/power in international cooperation: focus on science education

Abstract:

Timor-Leste has had several educational co-operation since its independence in 2002. For more than a decade, every year, Brazil has sent 50 Brazilian teachers to work in teacher education. However, in coordinating this program, we wonder how far these actions can affect the transnationalization of curricula, imposing forms of coloniality of knowledge and power? Therefore, we analysed some conditions of production of these discourses, in official documents and in a textbook, written from a Portuguese cooperation. We point out that, if on the one hand, international cooperation often ends up in a vertically centralized Eurocentric monologue, in which local knowledge is silenced, on the other hand it can provide the important knowledge that can contribute to an education for citizenship and to the consolidation for peace. We hope that these reflections in science education can be purposeful and contribute to both countries in this South-South educational cooperation movement.

Keywords:
Coloniality; Transnationalization; Curriculum; East Timor; Science education