This paper presents findings from a pilot study on equity and inclusion in the mathematics classroom. The pilot study is part of the project: Mathematics education for Inclusion and Equity (MInE) and has been ethically approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority. Moments of inclusion and equity is a concept that we explore and develop during this pilot. By inclusion and equity in mathematics we imply teaching that contributes to student empowerment, and their ability and agency to learn through striving for every student’s opportunity to participate (see Bagger 2017; Roos, 2019).

Aspects of equity and inclusion are core for sustainable learning in mathematics for all students (Atweh, 2011; Skolverket, 2019). At the same time, these values and goals in education is highly challenged both at a classroom level and a national system level in the Nordic countries and Sweden (Frønes et al. 2020). The trend of declining results in mathematics and an increasing proportion of students in need of support in mathematics are connected to if the student's parents are born abroad, gender and disabilities. The lack of equity is seen between groups of students, classes, and schools (Skolinspektionen, 2014; Skolverket, 2017; 2019). Neither research nor governmental reports can give advice on what the teacher need do in each classroom. At the same time, teachers work with this every day and often intuitively with not time to develop a professional language or form ideas of strategies or principles that can support them.

Inclusion and equity in mathematics has furthermore been shown to be complex (Kollosche et al., 2019). We understand these phenomena as deriving from a system and draws on Ainscows (2020) framework for inclusion and equity in education systems in order to understand how these come to be. The system is understood as consisting of “five interrelated factors” (p. 9): School development, equity and inclusion as principles, administration, community involvement and the use of evidence. In addition, we apply the Inclusive Inquiry Approach (IIA) for demarcating and exploring opportunities of moments and inclusion and equity (Messiou & Ainscow, 2020).  This means that we have built the study with three focus points; reflections on teaching, learning from difference and development of teaching practices (Messiou & Ainscow, 2020), Following this, inclusion and equity are considered as principles which aims at promoting meaningful participation for all students. This means that we target both classroom level and the system behind which materializes in the classroom.

The study at hand aims at contributing knowledge on prerequisites for moments of equity and inclusion in the mathematics classroom. This also means that we demarcate some of the prerequisites for moments of inclusion and equity as an analytical concept. Questions posed are: What moments of inclusion and equity can a teacher identify in her teaching? What kind of? Following from this: What underlying values and principles is displayed regarding inclusion and equity.

The school’s principals, additional teachers who may participate and a mathematics developer participated in the development of the project’s aims and scope. The school has a development project ongoing regarding inclusive learning environments. Hence, they are familiar to ideas of inclusion and equity and are designing teaching and classrooms that works for a diverse range of students. The school, North school, is a F-6 school located in a middle-sized city with a blended socio- economic living area surrounding it, and it has approximately 300 students and eight mathematics teachers. One teacher, Maria (not her real name), also the coordinator of one of the schools participating in our project, has been taking notes for a period of three months directly after her teaching. Maria has noted what she understood as moments of inclusion and equity during her planning, teaching, and evaluation of lessons. In other words: moments in which teaching aims at or managed to empower students, their ability and agency to learn, and participation in learning. To spot these aspects, we also asked her to especially reflect in her notes on reflections on teaching, learning from difference and the development of teaching (Messieu & Ainscow, 2020). The analyze took place in three steps: Maria first analysed and thematized her notes, this meant that her perspective on and understanding of inclusion and equity was asserted. She then coded things that could be understood as moments of inclusion and equity and also answered the question “why” is this one or the other. Thereafter the researchers analyzed the notes and themes noted down by the teacher. Initially, moments of inclusion or equity that appeared was coded by searching for aspects of student’s empowerment, abilities, agency, and opportunities to participate. Thereafter reasons, possibilities and obstructions for inclusion and equity was searched for in the teachers answer on “why”. Finally, we summarized and concluded what kind of moments of equity and inclusion was displayed and how these were conditioned.

Moments of inclusion and equity often co-existed, and one conditioned the other. Moments of inclusion was often mentioned as a differentiated classroom and way of approaching students and their learning. To value all kinds of knowledges and ways of learning, was an attitude pointed out as a prerequisite for inclusion. Inclusion was expressed as something of a value to aim for and as also a practical thing, when including students in learning and interaction. When instead searching for moments of equity, the teacher’s opportunities to and ability to create access, adapt material and teaching was highlighted. Knowledge of the student’s personality and learning needs, trust and relations was highlighted as key in this. Here, it is important to pay attention to the opportunities part- at times the teacher knew what do to but lacked the organizational or material means of doing so. Results indicate that equity and inclusion is rather something that is generated in the moment of indecision, in the implicit of social justice and can be seen as moments of pleasure, enjoyment of math and in the moments in which students also feel free to express their meaning. We conclude that inclusion and equity reach far beyond standards and achievements, it rather concerns a teaching which allows students to do maths far beyond the calculating of their own worth or worthlessness seen through the lens of achievement.

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