Abstract
This article draws on Foucault’s concepts of power and discourse to
explore the issues of teaching mathematics to low attainers in
primary schools in England. We analyse a data set of interviews,
from a larger study, with the mathematics teachers of one child
across three years, showing how accountability practices,
discourses of ability and inclusion policies interrelate to regulate
both teachers and student. We demonstrate the impact of
neoliberal policy discourses on teachers’ practices and how they
are caught up in conflicting ways by an accountability regime that
subverts inclusive pedagogies, requiring teachers to monitor, label
and assign within-child deficits. In spite of these regulatory
technologies we identify contradictory fault lines between
mathematics education policy discourses which we argue provide
the potential for developing critical awareness of accepted
practices and opportunities for change.
© 2018, Taylor & Francis. The attached document (embargoed until 29/07/2019) is an author produced version of a paper published in Research in Mathematics Education uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self- archiving policy. The final published version (version of record) is available online at the link below. Some minor differences between this version and the final published version may remain. We suggest you refer to the final published version should you wish to cite from it.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1- 17 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Research in Mathematics Education |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 29 Jan 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 29 Jan 2018 |
Keywords
- Mathematics education; accountability; ability; discourse; inclusion; low attainers; Foucault