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Outline of session

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Outline of session

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  1. Mathematics Education & Society Conference9th April 2017 – Volos, GreeceTeaching Mathematics for Social Justice:Transforming Classroom PracticeThis powerpoint presentation and further details about the TMSJ Research Project available from: http://maths-socialjustice.weebly.com/Pete WrightUCL Institute of Educationpete.wright@ucl.ac.uk@PeteWrightIOE

  2. Outline of session • Why is change needed? • Transforming classroom practice • Participatory Action Research • TMSJ Research Project – selected findings • Discussion – future wider-scale research?

  3. Why is change needed? • Secondary mathematics teaching tends to be teacher-led, boring, irrelevant and alienating (Boaler, 2009; D’Ambrosio, 2006; Nardi & Steward, 2003; Noyes, 2012); • Disempowering and exploitative – promotes ‘prescription readiness’ (Skovsmose, 2011), compliance (Gutstein, 2006); • Persistent association between mathematics attainment and family income (Boaler et al., 2011); • School mathematics acts as ‘critical filter’ – limits access to higher education, future employment (Black et al., 2009); • Perpetuation and reproduction of inequities – ‘cultural capital’ (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990; Jorgensen et al., 2014).

  4. Transforming classroom practice • Research/professional development needs to take account of constraints faced by teachers (Bishop, 1998), e.g. performativity, pressure to teach to the tests; • Research needs to be conducted in typical classroom situations (Skovsmose, 2011); • Established practice needs to be recognised as problematic – look for new ways of thinking, acting and relating to others (Kemmis, 2009); • Critical reflection – driven by external input and stimulus – essential for challenging existing practice (Jaworski, 2006); • Teachers need to engage critically with research findings and engage in research (BERA, 2014).

  5. Participatory Action Research • PAR is collaborative, participatory, explicitly socio-political and democratic (Brydon-Miller, et al., 2003); • Involves academics (with expertise in conducting research) carrying out research ‘with’, rather than ‘on’, teachers (with detailed knowledge of the classroom situation); • Resonates with critical maths education – current situation should not be taken as given (Skovmose & Borba, 2004); • Aims to bring about positive social change and generate findings of greater relevance to practitioners (Torrance, 2004); • Develops greater ‘understanding of theory-in-practice’ amongst teachers (Torrance, 2004)

  6. TMSJ Reseach Project (Wright, 2016; 2017) • TMSJ Research Project – small-scale PAR project, over one academic year, with 5 early-career teacher researchers. • Focus on developing practice that promotes engagement and empowerment of students, greater awareness of own situation and more equitable outcomes. Selected findings: • Impact (short-term) on teachers’ thinking and classroom practice: shift towards recognising structural causes of inequity; move from viewing social justice as enrichment opportunity towards seeing it as integral to teaching maths. • Increase in students’ engagement (particularly amongst the previously ‘alienated’) and agency (through using mathematics to support an argument for change).

  7. Discussion • What would a research project look like that would transform classroom practice, in relation to teaching mathematics for social justice, on a wider scale? • What are the essential characteristics of the TMSJ research project that would need to be retained? • Is there a tension between scaling up PAR and maintaining its participatory and collaborative nature? • Should participants necessarily share a pre-existing commitment towards teaching mathematics for social justice?

  8. References • BERA. (2014). Research and the teaching profession: Building the capacity for a self-improving education system. London: British Educational Research Assoc. • Bishop, A. (1998). Research, effectiveness, and the practitioners’ world. In: A. Sierpinska & J. Kilpatrick, eds. Mathematics education as a research domain: A search for identity. Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 33-45. • Black, L., Mendick, H., & Solomon, Y. (2009). Mathematical relationships in education: Identities and participation. New York: Routledge. • Boaler, J. (2009). The elephant in the classroom: helping children learn and love maths. London: Souvenir Press. • Boaler, J., Altendorf, L., & Kent, G. (2011). Mathematics and science inequalities in the United Kingdom: When elitism, sexism and culture collide. Oxford Review of Education, 37(4), 457-484. • Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J.-C. (1990). Reproduction in education, society and culture (2nd ed.). London: Sage. • Brydon‐Miller, M. & Maguire, P. (2009). Participatory action research: contributions to the development of practitioner inquiry in education. Educational Action Research, Vol 17 (1), pp. 79-93.

  9. References (continued) • D’Ambrosio, U. (2006). Ethnomathematics: Link between traditions and modernity. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. • Gutstein, E. (2006). Reading and writing the world with mathematics: Toward a pedagogy for social justice. New York: Routledge. • Jaworski, B. (2006). Theory and practice in mathematics teaching development: Critical inquiry as a mode of learning in teaching. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, Vol. 9, pp. 187-211. • Jorgensen, R., Gates, P., & Roper, V. (2014). Structural exclusion through school mathematics: Using Bourdieu to understand mathematics as a social practice. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 87, 221-239. • Kemmis, S. (2009). Action research as a practice‐based practice. Educational Action Research, Vol. 17 (3), pp. 463-474. • Nardi, E., & Steward, S. (2003). Is mathematics T.I.R.E.D.? A profile of quiet disaffection in the secondary mathematics classroom. British Educational Research Journal, 29(3), 345-367.

  10. References (continued) • Noyes, A. (2012). It matters which class you are in: Student-centred teaching and the enjoyment of learning mathematics. Research in Mathematics Education, 14(3), 273-290. Press. • Skovsmose, O. (2011). An invitation to critical mathematics education. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. • Skovsmose, O., & Borba, M. (2004). Research methodology and critical mathematics education. In: P. Valero & R. Zevenbergen, eds. Researching the socio-political dimensions of mathematics education. Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 207-226. • Torrance, H. (2004). Using action research to generate knowledge about educational practice. In G. Thomas, & R. Pring (Eds.), Evidence-based practice in education (pp. 187-200). Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press. • Wright, P. (2016). Social justice in the mathematics classroom. London Review of Education, 14(2), 104-118. • Wright, P. (2017). Critical relationships between teachers and learners of school mathematics. Pedagogy, Culture and Society [Online], Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14681366.2017.1285345

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