Lifting the quality and effectiveness of mathematics education provision in English-medium schools in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

Mathematics education in English-medium schools in Aotearoa New Zealand currently reproduces inequity. There is widespread concern about overall levels of student achievement and who participates and who succeeds. Rapid, and accelerating, social and technological change impacts what students need to know in mathematics and statistics and increases its significance. There are fundamental debates about how mathematics education should respond to inequity and rapid change. Content and pedagogy are both contested spaces. Research in mathematics education tends to exacerbate rather than resolve this contestation. In this cacophony it is hard to hear marginalised voices and yet these groups are the most impacted by current practices. Mathematics education is entwined with other curriculum areas and has far-reaching consequences; therefore, policy has to treat improving system performance as a complex problem requiring intervention at multiple levels to achieve equitable outcomes for students.