Social functions of mathematics education: a framework for socio-political studies

Social functions of mathematics education: a framework for socio-political studies In mathematics education, researchers have proposed a wide range of improvements of teaching practice in school, but only a few of these proposals have sustainably changed mathematics education in the desired form. This article takes off with the assumption that this gap between ideals and practice can be understood and challenged through a better understanding of the social functions of mathematics education. Functionalism is a sociological paradigm, which is based on the assumption that sub-systems of society support each other. The application of this theory to mathematics education seeks to illuminate the social connectedness of classroom practice and incorporates various studies from the field of mathematics education and beyond. Its originality lies in its ability to integrate and order results from many different socio-political studies in mathematics education and to identify research desiderata in the field. On this basis, I show that in spite of official discourses on the use-value of mathematics, we lack evidence that mathematics education is functional in providing socially necessary qualifications in mathematics. Instead, possible other functions of mathematics education such as the training of economically beneficial character traits, the legitimisation of mathematics as a social tool of power, the transfer of social advantages from parents to children, the training of a bureaucratic mentality and the projection of societal wishes and fears are discussed. The results do not only provoke further debate on educational goals of mathematics education but may form a basis on which to plan educational innovation with particular attention towards social constraints underlying mathematics education. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Educational Studies in Mathematics Springer Journals

Social functions of mathematics education: a framework for socio-political studies

Kollosche, David
Educational Studies in Mathematics, Volume 98 (3) – May 31, 2018
Download PDF
17 pages
Read Article

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer_journal/social-functions-of-mathematics-education-a-framework-for-socio-rCsj0pake2
Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature
Subject
Education; Mathematics Education; Mathematics, general
ISSN
0013-1954
eISSN
1573-0816
DOI
10.1007/s10649-018-9818-3
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

In mathematics education, researchers have proposed a wide range of improvements of teaching practice in school, but only a few of these proposals have sustainably changed mathematics education in the desired form. This article takes off with the assumption that this gap between ideals and practice can be understood and challenged through a better understanding of the social functions of mathematics education. Functionalism is a sociological paradigm, which is based on the assumption that sub-systems of society support each other. The application of this theory to mathematics education seeks to illuminate the social connectedness of classroom practice and incorporates various studies from the field of mathematics education and beyond. Its originality lies in its ability to integrate and order results from many different socio-political studies in mathematics education and to identify research desiderata in the field. On this basis, I show that in spite of official discourses on the use-value of mathematics, we lack evidence that mathematics education is functional in providing socially necessary qualifications in mathematics. Instead, possible other functions of mathematics education such as the training of economically beneficial character traits, the legitimisation of mathematics as a social tool of power, the transfer of social advantages from parents to children, the training of a bureaucratic mentality and the projection of societal wishes and fears are discussed. The results do not only provoke further debate on educational goals of mathematics education but may form a basis on which to plan educational innovation with particular attention towards social constraints underlying mathematics education.

Journal

Educational Studies in Mathematics – Springer Journals

Published: May 31, 2018

References

  • “I am [not always] a maths hater”: Shifting students’ identity narratives in context
    Andersson, A; Valero, P; Meaney, T
  • Social class and the hidden curriculum of work
    Anyon, J
  • Popular culture, educational discourse, and mathematics
    Appelbaum, PM
  • Educational psychology: A cognitive view
    Ausubel, DP
  • Good education in an age of measurement: On the need to reconnect with the question of purpose in education
    Biesta, G
  • Encouraging the transfer of ‘school’ mathematics to the ‘real world’ through the integration of process and content, context and culture
    Boaler, J
  • Mathematical cultures
    Borovik, AV
  • Mathematics education and subjectivity: Cultures and cultural renewal
    Brown, T
  • Assessing children’s mathematical knowledge: Social class, sex, and problem-solving
    Cooper, B; Dunne, M
  • The mathematical experience
    Davis, PJ; Hersh, R
  • La politique des grands nombres [The politics of large numbers]
    Desrosières, A
  • The sociology of mathematics education: Mathematical myths/pedagogic texts
    Dowling, P
  • Building bridges: Reflections on the problem of transfer of learning in mathematics
    Evans, J
  • The professional education and development of teachers of mathematics
  • School and society
    Feinberg, W; Soltis, JF
  • Gesellschaftliche Bedingungen schulischer Sozialisation [Societal conditions of socialisation in school]
    Fend, H
  • Proceedings of the Fifth International Mathematics and Society Conference
    Fernandes, E
  • Discipline and punish
    Foucault, M
  • Power/knowledge. Selected interviews and other writings
    Foucault, M
  • Mental illness and psychology
    Foucault, M
  • Where mathematics becomes political
    François, K; Sutter, L de
  • The school in contemporary society
    Goslin, DA
  • A ‘gap-gazing’ fetish in mathematics education?
    Gutiérrez, R
  • Toward a political economy of mathematics education
    Harouni, H
  • Why teach mathematics? A focus on general education
    Heymann, HW
  • Schulqualifikation und Berufsfindung [School qualification and career choices]
    Imdorf, C
  • The evolvement of numeracy and mathematical literacy curricula and the construction of hierarchies of numerate or mathematically literate subjects
    Jablonka, E
  • The creativity of action
    Joas, H
  • Learning from computers: mathematics education and technology
    Keitel, C; Kotzmann, E; Skovsmose, O
  • Strukturelle Faktoren des Bildungserfolgs [Structural factors of educational success]
    Keller, F
  • Proceedings of the fifth international mathematics education and society conference
    Knipping, C; Reid, DA; Gellert, U; Jablonka, E
  • Proceedings of the eighth congress of the European Society for Research in mathematics education
    Kollosche, D
  • Mathematics and power: an alliance in the foundations of mathematics and its teaching
    Kollosche, D
  • Proceedings of the Ninth Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education
    Kollosche, D
  • Criticising with Foucault: towards a guiding framework for socio-political studies in mathematics education
    Kollosche, D
  • Mathematics education and life at times of crisis. Proceedings of the ninth international mathematics education and society conference
    Kollosche, D
  • The disorder of mathematics education. Challenging the socio-political dimensions of research
    Kollosche, D
  • Multiple perspectives on mathematics teaching and learning
    Lerman, S
  • The disorder of mathematics education
    Lundin, S; Storck Christensen, D
  • Researching race in mathematics education
    Martin, DB
  • System, change and conflict
    Merton, RK
  • Jugendliche zwischen Schule und Berufsbildung [Adolescents between school and vocational training]
    Moser, U
  • Mathematik und Ideologie: Zur politischen Ökonomie des Mathematikunterrichts [Mathematics and ideology: On the political ecomony of mathematics education]
    Neander, J
  • Opening the cage. Critique and politics of mathematics education
    Pais, A
  • An ideology critique of the use-value of mathematics
    Pais, A
  • Economy: The absent centre of mathematics education
    Pais, A
  • The school class as a social system
    Parsons, T
  • The system of modern societies
    Parsons, T
  • Leonard and Gertrude
    Pestalozzi, JH
  • The alchemy of the mathematics curriculum: inscriptions and the fabrication of the child
    Popkewitz, T
  • Trust in numbers: the pursuit of objectivity in science and public life
    Porter, TM
  • Education and the illusions of emancipation
    Radford, L
  • Student social class and teacher expectations: the self-fulfilling prophecy in ghetto education
    Rist, RC
  • Towards a philosophy of critical mathematics education
    Skovsmose, O
  • Negotiating the ‘white male math myth’: African American male students and success in school mathematics
    Stinson, DW
  • School mathematics registers in a context of low academic expectations
    Straehler-Pohl, H; Fernández, S; Gellert, U; Figueiras, L
  • The contexts of mathematics tasks and the context of the classroom: are we including all students?
    Sullivan, P; Zevenbergen, R; Mousley, J
  • Erziehungswissenschaft auf dem Prüfstand
    Terhart, E
  • Mathematik, Moderne, Ideologie [Mathematics, modernity, ideology]
    Ullmann, P
  • Researching the socio-political dimensions of mathematics education. Issues of power in theory and methodology
    Valero, P
  • Jahrbuch Jugendforschung. 4. Ausgabe 2004
    Veith, H
  • The mastery of reason: Cognitive development and the production of rationality
    Walkerdine, V
  • The theory of social and economic organization
    Weber, M

You’re reading a free preview. Subscribe to read the entire article.

Try 2 weeks free now

DeepDyve is your
personal research library

It’s your single place to instantly
discover and read the research
that matters to you.

Enjoy affordable access to
over 18 million articles from more than
15,000 peer-reviewed journals.

All for just $49/month

Explore the DeepDyve Library

or browse the journals available

Search

Query the DeepDyve database, plus search all of PubMed and Google Scholar seamlessly

Organize

Save any article or search result from DeepDyve, PubMed, and Google Scholar... all in one place.

Access

Get unlimited, online access to over 18 million full-text articles from more than 15,000 scientific journals.

Your journals are on DeepDyve

Read from thousands of the leading scholarly journals from SpringerNature, Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford University Press and more.

All the latest content is available, no embargo periods.

See the journals in your area

DeepDyve

Freelancer

DeepDyve

Pro

Price

FREE

$49/month
$360/year

Save searches from
Google Scholar,
PubMed

Create folders to
organize your research

Export folders, citations

Read DeepDyve articles

Abstract access only

Unlimited access to over
18 million full-text articles

Print

20 pages / month

PDF Discount

20% off

Sign up
for free
Start 14 day
Free Trial