How And Why Might Secondary School Mathematics Teachers Situate Real-World Equity Issues The Classroom?

This study focused on how and why secondary school mathematics teachers might situate real-world equity issues in their lessons. Real-world equity issues in the context of mathematics education are real-world issues which might be critically examined in the mathematics lesson and so encourage pupils to be democratic citizens who are critically literate through mathematics. The first phase of the study involved data collection through semi-structured interviews with eight teachers to learn about teachers’ mathematical beliefs. Four of the participants had mathematics degrees and the others had degrees in other disciplines. An adapted version of Ernest’s model of mathematics-related belief systems was used as card sort prompts for the interview. The second phase of the study collected data from observing the participants teach a mathematics lesson in which they situated real-world equity issues. It also gathered data on the participants’ reflections of the lesson. The data formed the basis of eight case studies. In order to identify the different ways in which real-world equity issues can be situated in the mathematics classroom, data from the lesson observations and teachers’ reflections were used to address the question: ‘How might secondary school mathematics teachers situate real-world equity issues in their lessons?’. The data was analysed by identifying the areas of the curriculum addressed in the lesson, and Skovsmose’s Milieus of Learning matrix was used as a framework to analyse the structure of the lesson. Data from interviews and teachers’ reflections were used to address the question: ‘Why might secondary school mathematics teachers situate real-world equity issues in their lessons?’. Ernest’s model of mathematics-related belief systems was used to analyse the interview data and identify what motivated teachers to situate real-world equity issues in their lessons in the way they did. As the cohort comprised of mathematics teachers with mathematics degrees and degrees from other disciplines, the study also analysed the data between participants to determine if there is a difference between teachers from diverse academic backgrounds in terms of their mathematical beliefs and practices. By drawing on the analysis, the study arrived at conclusions to provide potential ways in which teachers from diverse beliefs and academic backgrounds might be able to situate real-world equity issues in the mathematics classroom.