Copy the page URI to the clipboard
Smith, Cathy
(2011).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9803-0_20
Abstract
What can the particular context of ‘further mathematics’ tell us about conceptions of quality and equity in mathematics education and their changing interactions over time? Further mathematics A-level is a traditional gate-keeper qualification in the United Kingdom, but many state schools lack the resources to teach it. A national project to widen participation has promoted further mathematics and allowed students to opt in to out-of-school classes. In this chapter, I argue that choosing further mathematics links quality and equity to understandings of the self as individual project and narrative. I show how the promotional texts of further mathematics use metaphors to sustain and address tensions between quality and equity. Drawing on interviews with one student, I identify how these representations of further mathematics intersect with liberal ‘practices of the self’. I argue that quality as depth is a powerful construction that inevitably disables students from understanding themselves as belonging within further mathematics.
Viewing alternatives
Metrics
Public Attention
Altmetrics from AltmetricNumber of Citations
Citations from DimensionsItem Actions
Export
About
- Item ORO ID
- 50358
- Item Type
- Book Section
- ISBN
- 90-481-9802-X, 978-90-481-9802-3
- Keywords
- advanced mathematics; discursive practices
- Academic Unit or School
-
Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) > Mathematics and Statistics
Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) - Copyright Holders
- © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
- Depositing User
- Cathy Smith