Statistics as a tool for decision-making: Two countries and one pattern

From a sociopolitical perspective of mathematics education, we have analyzed school mathematics as an important element for building current notions about citizenship in western countries (Andrade-Molina, 2018). This idea has been mobilized as a partnership between researchers from both Brazil and Chile. This study focuses on the ways in which statistics have been announced in the official mathematics high school curricula in both countries as a fundamental tool for students to critically evaluate quantitative information. In the same sense, decision-making has become a relevant skill, and an ubiquitous statement in research in mathematics education, policy making, and official curricula in general. This movement has had consequences for daily life in the two countries analyzed. Our goal is to describe and problematize statements about statistics being a tool to improve notions about citizenship by means of decision-making as a skill (which can be) built in the school mathematics context. In an ongoing investigation, we pursue this goal by analyzing excerpts from official curricula and electoral campaigns from these two countries, using elements of discourse analysis. Our analysis strategy considers the statistical as the “knowledge of State” (Traversini & Bello, 2009), which has operated as a way to conduct subjects’ behaviour and, at the same time, it has been announced as a way to enforce individual and rational decision-making, supposedly improving society as a whole. In order to inquire about this last widespread notion, we unpack uses (by politicians) and repercussions about statistical arguments used in recent electoral campaigns in both countries. Preliminary results show manipulated statistical results and graphical representations to appeal to voters. These campaign strategies have provoked many discussions (in these countries) but they do not seem to affect the elections’ results (at least in our examples). Therefore, the question that will be conducted by this study is: In what ways and to what extent has school mathematics (policy makers, educators, etc.) been producing results and statements in societal decision-making? In our interpretation, ideas about mathematical knowledge to ensure social justice, for example, are powerful nowadays, but need to be investigated.