Abstract

The educational curriculum in Chile endorses the meaning of education, by promoting the fundamental development of students through training that allows them to live their lives to the fullest, participating in a free, democratic and pluralistic society. School textbooks convey the curriculum organizing learning experiences for approximately three million students. Therefore, this study analyzes to what extent the school textbooks used of primary education in the subject of history, geography and social sciences promotes the intercultural awareness of students. By means of the proposal of Fajardo (2012) and Aguado (2003), the dimensions of knowledge, attitudes and skills were guiding themes for the analysis. The study reveals that the promotion of intercultural awareness is not developed in a linear or comprehensive manner. On the contrary, it focuses on some thematic units of the textbooks, and on the dimension of knowledge. The findings reveal that there is a gap between what the official curriculum states for primary education, in terms of intercultural competences, and the school textbooks presented by editorial boards. Similarly, textbooks do not display progression of intercultural content throughout the formative levels of primary education.