Marginalization And Recognition Processes - Students’ Participation Profiles As A Part Of A Study Of Inclusive Education In Math

Author(s):

Maria Christina Secher Schmidt(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2013

Network:

04. Inclusive Education

Format:

Poster

Session Information

04 SES 05.5 PS, General Poster Session

General Poster Session

Time:

2013-09-11

12:30-14:00

Room:

FUAYE

Chair:

Contribution

My research explores how math teachers’ beliefs, choices of content and methods, can support communication patterns in the classroom that ensures students receive the appropriate support when learning difficulties arise. My central research question is: how are the math teacher’s pedagogical choices a co-creator of an inclusive or an exclusive learning culture?

My approach to learning difficulties is a constructivist one. Mathematics is here is viewed as a life skill, as stressed in the concept of mathematical literacy (Lindenskov 2006). This means that learning difficulties are not (simply) a matter of developmental disorder inherent within the individual, but (also) something created in a social context. I am looking at the articulated and unarticulated standards for how we 'do school', and the ways in which teachers and students categorize themselves and each other. Being able to challenge the unspoken understanding of a culture of learning requires a focus on how to communicate a particular order forward, and thus how to create a special classification of what is, respectively, normal and abnormal (Hall 1997; Bourdieu 1997).

Both the perception of 'real mathematics' and the categories the teacher uses, will affect which students are assessed to have special educational needs and how that teaching should be organized. The inclusive perspective means that the math teacher must shift focus from the individual child to the relationship between the individual and the community so that both student and school become the subject of change and development (Farrell 2004). To understand mathematical difficulties one must look at the affective and social context students enter. This perspective allows us to see how, in some cases, problems are”caused by the curriculum, the teacher or the school as much as by the learner. In such cases, the ‘medical’ or ‘deficit’ model of special educational needs fails, because it looks for solutions in the wrong place” (Ernest 2011:24).

Method

My fieldwork is based on critical case selection (Flyvbjerg 1991). Over a period of two years I will follow four mathematics teachers teaching in two different primary schools. I have done six weeks of fieldwork in the autumn 2012 and have planned three weeks in the autumn 2013. The observations have taken place in ordinary classes, where the special support is integrated. The teachers teach in primary schools (up to 4th grade) and they all have specific knowledge of math difficulties because they have taken part in a project about early math intervention. I have carried out structured student participation profiles and video observations in four classes in a total of 37 mathematics lessons. In addition, I have conducted four teacher interviews and 12 student conversations which are recorded and partly transcribed. One way to break with the 'natural' assumptions and try to show their 'culturality’ is by looking at the categories that I use in my observations. I pay attention to what kind of example I refer to as participation, learning, inclusion and difficulties. In this way I focus on the binary logic that creates the social world hierarchically by valuing one category higher than the other (Hall 1997).

Expected Outcomes

Every time we talk about talented or normal students we also talk, indirectly, about those students who cannot (or will not) be contained within these categories, thereby losing the privileges produced by the category ‘good student’. Therefore, it is interesting to examine how differences between students are established e.g. between the quiet and the troubled student, the committed and the lazy student, the talented and the weak performing student. My ambition is to understand the value orientations and assessment practices mathematics teachers and students use. One question is whether students perceive difficulties in the same way as teachers? I am curious to know more about students' thoughts, feelings and attitudes to the learning environment and mathematics - and examine whether teachers have access to those beliefs. In relation to the expected outcome of the PhD project my attempt is to identify elements of importance to math teachers who support students in learning difficulties through an inclusive learning approach. Through exemplary descriptions of inclusion and exclusion mechanisms my ambition is to identify pedagogical attention points which can be taken into account when teachers plan and evaluate their education of students with diverse learning needs in mathematics.

References

Askew, M., Brown, M., Rhodes, V., Johnson, D., Wiliam, D., King's College, L. S. o. E., et al. (1997) Effective teachers of numeracy : Final report : Report of a study carried out for the teacher training agency 1995-96 by the school of education. London: King's College. Black, L. (2004) Differential participation in whole-class discussions and the construction of marginalised identities. The Journal of Educational Enquiry - LA English, 5(1) Bourdieu, P. (1997) Af praktiske grunde. Omkring teorien om menneskelig handlen. Hans Reitzels Forlag Bourdieu, P. and Waquant, Loïc J.D. (1992) An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Polity Press in association with Blackwell Publishers Ltd.: Cambridge Carrington, S. (1999) Inclusion needs a different school culture. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 257-268. Ernest, P. (2011) Mathematics and Special Educational Needs: Theories of mathematical ability and effective types of intervention with low and high attainers in mathematics. Lambert Academic Publishing Evertson, C. M., & Weinstein, C. S. (2006) Classroom management as a field of inquiry. In C. M. Evertson, & C. S. Weinstein (Eds.), Handbook of classroom management: Research, practice, and contemporary issues. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Farrell, P. (2004) “School Psychologists: Making Inclusion a Reality for All.” School Psychology International; 25;5 Flyvbjerg, B. (1991) Rationalitet og magt - bind 1, Akademisk Forlag A/S Hall, S. (1997) ”The spectacle of the other’” i Hall, Stuart (red.): Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. SAGE Publications: London Lindenskov, L. (2006) Matematikvanskeligheder i inkluderende undervisning for børn, unge og voksne. Nordic Studies in Mathematics Education, 11 (4), 65-95. Patrick, H., Turner, J. C., Meyer, D. K., & Midgley, C. (2003) How teachers establish psychologicalenvironments during the first days of school: Associations with avoidance in mathematics. Teachers College Record, 105(8), 1521-1558. Skidmore, D. (2004) Inclusion – the dynamic of school development. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Author Information

Maria Christina Secher Schmidt (presenting / submitting)

Aarhus University

Department of Education

Copenhagen

Search the ECER Programme

Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
Search for authors and in the respective field.
For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.