Smith, Cathy
(2011).
| DOI (Digital Object Identifier) Link: | https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9803-0_20 |
|---|---|
| Google Scholar: | Look up in Google Scholar |
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.
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Copyright Holders: | 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. |
| ISBN: | 90-481-9802-X, 978-90-481-9802-3 |
| Keywords: | advanced mathematics; discursive practices |
| Academic Unit/School: | Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) > Mathematics and Statistics Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) |
| Item ID: | 50358 |
| Depositing User: | Cathy Smith |
| Date Deposited: | 31 Jul 2017 08:21 |
| Last Modified: | 07 Dec 2018 10:54 |
| URI: | http://oro.open.ac.uk/id/eprint/50358 |
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