The teaching of Mathematics at Rural Schools: what teachers tell about?

The vast majority of research related to mathematics education in Brazil focuses on aspects related to urban schools. Although there is a discussion for decades about the need for a curriculum in rural schools that consider the local culture and knowledge context-based, it is still poor teaching mathematics in these schools. This paper discusses research data that addresses the teaching of mathematics in rural schools located in Pernambuco, Brazil. We focus on the speech of teachers who participated in the study by analyzing their views on rural education and on their performance in mathematics teaching. Generally, the teachers were unaware of the rural schools specificities. The results lead us to reflect on the possibilities of teaching mathematics to empower rural communities, making them the protagonists of their stories.