Norwegian and Swedish post-compulsory school students’ perspectives on the purpose of school mathematics: An exploratory study

Abstract

Many countries’ educational aspirations are reflected in government-produced national curricula that specify, with varying degrees of prescription, what should be taught, when it should be taught, and even how it should be taught. These systemic ambitions are typically located in culturally constructed images of the ideal citizen dependent on, for example, whether cultures privilege the individual or the collective, or whether knowledge, particularly mathematics, is construed as practical or abstract. Despite such differences, little research has examined students’ awareness of the systemic expectations that underpin their experiences of school mathematics. In this paper, drawing on data from 35 group interviews involving 92 students from post-compulsory schools, we present an exploratory study of Norwegian and Swedish students’ perspectives on the purpose of school mathematics. Constant comparison analyses yielded six themes, or purposes, concerning the role of mathematics in support of everyday shopping, future employment, the learning of other subjects, logical thinking and problem-solving, the development of an esthetic appreciation, and the management of personal finances. However, despite extensive emphases in both the Norwegian and the Swedish curricula on the role of mathematical knowledge in the creation of just and equitable societies, no students discussed such societal goals. Some implications are discussed.