© 2009 IAP All rights reserved Critical Issues in Mathematics Education, pages 33–37 Copyright © 2009 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. 33 CHAPTER 5 THE PURPOSE OF SCHOOL MATHEMATICS Perspectives of Colombian Mathematics Teachers Cecilia Agudelo-Valderrama Universidad Distrital F. J. C., Bogotá, Colombia For decades, the goal of educating critical citizens has been the ﬂag of the Colombian educational system. In the speciﬁc area of school mathematics this goal has been underlined as fundamental in curriculum guidelines, emphasising the use of real-life situations as the centre of classroom activ- ity. Teaching school mathematics for “real life,” however—according to the ﬁndings of this study carried out with the participation of thirteen math- ematics teachers with a range of teaching experiences—was making sure that the list of content items included in schools’ syllabuses was covered, for a prime concern for the schools was to secure a good place in the league tables produced by the National External Examination body. The teach- ers’ conceptions (encompassing knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes) of the requirements of the external examination had a strong inﬂuence in their