In mathematics education, there is a growing interest in research on social aspects such as how mathematics teaching in classrooms is informed by society. Consequently, new sets of theoretical frameworks and methods have to be taken into account. In a focus group study, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was used as a theoretical framework, which enabled the researcher to see how mathematics teachers resist and construct a discourse of mathematics teaching apart from the official discourse. Also shown in the study is that power relations are circulating and thereby influencing teachers in the process of planning in mathematics. In this paper, results from the study are used to emphasize CDA as useful for mathematics education researchers seeking to grasp the complex, dynamic, and emerging nature of mathematics teaching.
Taking the social, political, and ethical dimensions of mathematics education seriously means not only researching these issues, but also designing and assessing research with these dimensions in mind. When designing an interview study about planning in mathematics, diversity in meanings was recognized and participants and their voices were foregrounded. In this paper, the design is related to perspectives on interviews, meaning as both durable and transient, and quality criteria such as reproducibility and bias. Theoretical assumptions had consequences for how meaning was seen, but also for relevance of the chosen quality criteria. Findings suggest that not only design, but also assessment of quality in interview studies have to be discussed in relation to the theoretical assumptions the studies build on.
All teachers in mathematics somehow plan for their teaching. They have con- siderations and make decisions that will in uence what is happening in the classroom and thereby also what opportunities their students have to learn mathematics. Considerations and decisions are made in a social practice with power relations operating both within the practice itself and between practices. In a forthcoming study about planning of mathematics teaching these power relations will be explored. In this presentation different methods for exploring the power relations are discussed.
Mathematics teaching and mathematics teachers are part of cultural, societal, and educational structures. These structures and different actors within the structures construct mathematics teaching differently and influence the scope of action that teachers hold. To explore the mechanisms behind this influence, Fairclough’s concepts of representations and assumptions were used to analyze common themes in interviews with six Swedish mathematics teachers. Results showed that there is diversity in ways of representing and that three groups of actors are visible in the representations: teachers, official actors, and students and parents. Results also revealed tensions between representations and assumptions that have consequences for teachers’ considerations and decisions about their mathematics teaching.
Teachers are central in the process of making learning situations out of intentions expressed in governing documents, such as the national curriculum. However, there is no straight line from intentions to learning situationsthe teacher actively designs the planned curriculum and the enacted curriculum. In the process of planning, the teacher interacts with the material, and her decisions are also influenced by, for example, textbooks. This study aims to explore in what ways the textbook participates in the process of planning, i.e., the transformation from intended to planned curriculum. Based on focus group discussions with primary teachers, results show a variety in teachers' relations to the textbook, which have consequences for how the textbook participates in decisions. Results also show that students' positive feelings about the textbook influence the planning and that textbooks sometimes function as "emergency exits" in the process of planning.
Teachers are responsible for teaching, and when they plan, they are part of a complex non-linear social practice of curriculum making. When planning, teachers draw on curriculum materials, which are often designed to promote reform; however, previous studies show that this is not always the case. A study on planning for mathematics teaching in Sweden showed that teachers are influenced by those who have formal and informal power when they plan. This article focuses on structural influence on teachers' planning as curriculum work and the possible consequences for teacher agency. The data comes from a focus group discussion about planning with mathematics teachers in primary school. Tools for the analysis were inspired by actor analysis and “three pillars of institutions”. Results show that the structural influence on teachers is at the regulative, the normative, and the cultural-cognitive levels. Regulative influence seems to be short-term, while cultural-cognitive influence seems to last over the long-term. The most prominent influence was normative and related to the textbook. Results shed light on teachers' curriculum work in the micro site of activity when they are planning for mathematics teaching. Based on the results, the article suggests that teachers—as key actors when it comes to teaching—must have the opportunity to discuss and problematize assumptions, ideas that are taken-for-granted, and power relations in curriculum making to achieve agency and be the professional agents of change they are expected to be.
Teachers plan and conduct mathematics teaching, and hence, are often seen as the key to change mathematics teaching towards a more equal and just activity. However, there are signs that other actors are also influencing the planning and thereby the mathematics teaching. To explore the influence of others, a focus group study was conducted and results from one of the group discussions are presented in this paper. The results show that there are individuals who are actors in the process of planning, but also organizational and material actors. There are also direct links from the actors that the teachers express to others, which means that these also influence the planning and the mathematics teaching. Hence, changing mathematics teaching is not just a matter of teachers.
There is an ongoing public debate about mathematics education. This dialogue influences policymakers as well as mathematics teachers who are affected by these public ideas. Consequently, exploring the public debate, for example, by studying news media, is relevant for understanding teaching and learning in mathematics and also pertinent for researchers to actively participate in the debate about mathematics education. Representations of mathematics education, which emerged in a study of three national newspapers in Sweden, were explored. Articles relevant to the study were found in systematic searches in a media archive every fifth year between 1992 and 2017. Findings show that the construction of mathematics education in Swedish newspapers is multifaceted and complex, foregrounded by achievements, measurements, and various forms of teaching. Other parts of the construction involve teachers wanting to arouse positive feelings, but their attempts are often unsuccessful. While the construction of mathematics education is increasingly varied, the resulting positive and negative feelings and the tensions between representations contribute new insights, which are important to the field.
I detta kapitel diskuteras hur olika sociopolitiska vindar som blåser runt matematikundervisning påverkar förutsättningarna för både lärare och elever på olika nivåer. Fokus ligger på planering för en inkluderande matematikundervisning under dessa förutsättningar. Detta belyses utifrån de tidigare kapitlens ’vindriktningar’ samt vår egen forskning som fokuserar planering och inkludering i matematikundervisning. Utifrån de sociopolitiska beskrivningar som finns av mötet mellan elever, lärare och matematik kan vi se att det dels finns skillnader som uppträder över tid —förändringar som går från något mot något annat, men också förändringar som visar återkommande företeelser. För att synliggöra frågor om inkludering och planering inom ramen för dessa förändringar behövs en ständigt pågående debatt men det behövs också samverkan mellan forskare och lärare för att tillsammans kunna möta sociopolitiska utmaningar som uppstår när vi arbetar för en mer likvärdig och rättvis matematikundervisning. Det behövs även stöd och utrymme för lärare så att de kan tolka och navigera och genom ett informerat handlande planera för en inkluderande matematikundervisning.
A starting point in this project presentation is that all students have the right to be valued as knowers in mathematics classrooms. We use epistemic justice, epistemic friction, and inclusion to argue for an extension of ideas about differentiated instruction and suggest an alternative concept – diversity valued instruction. Based on examples from mathematics teaching practice in Sweden, we present ideas about a study in which we want to illuminate possibilities and constraints when ideas of diversity valued instruction is implemented in mathematics teachers’ process of planning.
In educational design research projects, there are long-term relationships between researcher and participants. Hence, in addition to external ethical engagement, researchers have to engage in internal ethical issues, which became evident when a researcher suggested mathematical content for an intervention. The suggestion was both appealing to and uncomfortable for the teachers, and this ambiguity made power relations between the researcher and the participants visible. In the moment, the researcher made decisions about the content that might not be the best. This situation made visible the importance of internal ethical engagement in advance, for example, by thinking about how we care for our participants and for what and whom we are responsible.
This introduction for TWG19 offers a brief history of the group and describes past challenges the group has experienced when discussing papers-seeing papers as related and as contributing to a common effort. These challenges led us as TWG19 team leaders to develop three initiatives to support communication among researchers who work in different contexts with different purposes. The initiatives are presented and used to discuss the papers. We conclude with implications for the future.
The students’ influence and responsibilities on content and learning processes are important objectives emphasised in all steering documents for Swedish education. However, results from a large-scale survey exploring what students find important for learning mathematics show that students may not value such openness in mathematics teaching and learning. We found that aligning teaching to students’ valuing would rather conserve a tradition of teacher authority. In this discussion essay, these results will be related to the obstacles teachers may experience when fulfilling educational objectives of students’ responsibility, participation, and influence on the planning of teaching and learning mathematics.