Anjum Halai

Conceptualising gender equality in research on education quality

This article sets out to re‐conceptualise gender equality in education quality. Four approaches to conceptualising gender equitable education quality are identified in the literature: human capital theory with a focus on parity and sameness for all; a human rights and power perspective, within which gender equality is viewed as transforming unjust structures; postcolonial critiques, which celebrate and recognise difference; and the view of development as social action for empowerment with gender intersecting with other inequalities. The framework is applied to an analysis of a programme of research on education quality, EdQual. The article maintains that for education quality at the level of classrooms to move beyond fairness of distribution of resources, to consider the nature of educational experience for boys and girls, requires a deeper questioning of the gender biased nature of schooling. It also indicates that education quality demands an analysis of gender dynamics in the wider social context of the lives of boys and girls. These findings have strong implications for large research programmes.

Mathematics education and language diversity: The 21st ICMI study

Introduction.- Challenges and opportunities for second language learners in undergraduate mathematics.- Mathematics in the hands of deaf learners and blind learners: visual-gestural-somatic means of doing and expressing.- Challenging deficit perspectives: student agency in multilingual mathematics classrooms.- Language diversity in mathematics teacher education: challenges across three countries.- Impact of differing grammatical structures in mathematics teaching and learning.- Addressing multi-language diversity in mathematics teacher education programs.- Language diversity and new media: issues of multimodality and performance.- Making use of multiple (non-shared) first languages: state and need of research and development in the European language context.- Purposefully relating multilingual registers - building theory and teaching strategies for bilingual learners based on an integration of three traditions.- Trends in mathematics education in multilingual contexts for indigenous population: experiences from Latin America.- Tensions in teaching mathematics in contexts of language diversity.- Research rationalities and the construction of the deficient multilingual mathematics learner.- Language diversity in research and its consequences.- Using ICTs to facilitate multilingual mathematics teaching and learning.- Mathematics teaching, language policy and the political role of language: perspectives from around the world.- Reflections.- Index.

Language of Instruction and Learners’ Participation in Mathematics

The policy makers in education, in the post-colonial contexts, often introduce the ex-colonial language with perceived or real power and privilege as a medium of instruction, ostensibly for distributive justice for all learners. Since language of power is part of the cultural capital needed for social mobility, its use in classrooms is assumed to help distribute this capital through formal education.

Teachers as agents of peace? Exploring teacher agency in social cohesion in Pakistan

Abstract This paper studies an under-researched area – teachers’ role in peacebuilding in conflict-affected contexts – through exploring teacher agency for social cohesion in Pakistan. Insights are sought into teachers’ perspectives on the major drivers of conflict in society and the role of education and teachers in social cohesion and mitigating inequities in education. A 4Rs framework of redistribution, recognition, representation and reconciliation was employed to analyse data gathered from: interviews with and classroom observations of teacher educators; focus-group discussions with and a questionnaire completed by pre- and in-service teachers; and analysis of teacher education and school curriculum texts. While teachers expressed a nuanced understanding of the conflict drivers in society and appreciated the significance of education in peacebuilding, they subscribed to assimilationist approaches to social cohesion, which were aligned with curriculum texts and promoted official nation-building agendas. Additionally, teachers saw issues of social cohesion as peripheral to the core academic curriculum. Teachers’ identity was integrally linked to their religious affiliations.

Introduction: An ICMI Study On Language Diversity In Mathematics Education

This chapter provides the introduction to this ICMI Study 21 volume. It includes: a discussion of the place of this study and its topic within ICME; a discussion of what is meant by the study title; and a brief historical account of research on this topic in mathematics education. The chapter also recounts the various stages of the study, including the development of the discussion document, the study conference, and the preparation of this volume. The latter parts of the chapter include syntheses of some key research ideas emerging from the volume, implications for policy and practice and issues for further research.

Research Rationalities and the Construction of the Deficient Multilingual Mathematics Learner

It is our contention that research plays a role in creating and reifying the very concepts and notions that it seeks to study. Published research in multilingual mathematics education was reviewed to critically examine its underpinning rationality on: (a) how the learner is portrayed; (b) how mathematics education (teaching and learning) is portrayed; and (c) the notion of language as formulated in the texts. Two research trends were examined: large-scale studies on mathematics achievement and how they address multilingualism, and small-scale, classroom-based studies and their recommendations about practice. On the basis of this critical review we argue that research very often has a double effect of power. On the one hand it reifies categories of exclusion such as “multilingual learner” by documenting its existence. On the other hand, it provides methods and instruments to diminish the achievement gap and help the multilingual learner assimilate with the culture and language of the dominant group. We conclude that research rationality cannot be seen without a deeper questioning of the philosophical, ontological, and epistemological assumptions that underpin the traditional views of what constitutes mathematics and, by implication, mathematics education.

Classroom as a site for teacher learning: Emergence of a paradigm shift in mathematics teacher education in Pakistan

Pakistan is a country of about 180 million people with a big proportion being youth and young adults. The basic education system is therefore large with concomitant demands for an adequately qualified cadre of teachers. Historically the teacher education system in Pakistan has been weak, with a wide range of teacher preparation programmes and little if any availability of in-service teacher education. However, over the last two decades or so there has been a significant wave of reform in teacher preparation and in-service education in the country (e.g. HEC 2010). Situated within the context above, this paper reports on the case of an innovative field based in-service programme for mathematics teachers that recognized the significance of the classroom as a site for teacher learning. In this programme, the participating teachers tried new ideas into their classrooms and analysed the emerging issues with the mentor or the professional development tutor. Opportunity of engaging in reflection with the mentors created an ‘in-between’ space for the teachers to critique their practice and learn from it. The paper raises significant issues for policy and practice in teacher education.

Topic Study Group No. 32: Mathematics Education in a Multilingual and Multicultural Environment

All over the world, mathematics education takes place in multilingual and multicultural environments, including situations affected by historical diversity, colonialism, migration and globalisation. Research on the issues arising in such environments is growing and is of wide relevance. The aim of TSG32 at ICME-13 was to examine issues that arise in conducting research on mathematics education in such environments. The TSG saw 9 presentations in the main TSG sessions and 13 oral communications. Each main session concluded with a period of discussion of cross-cutting themes. A joint session was also organised with TSG31 (Language and communication in mathematics education). Three themes mentioned in the original TSG description were addressed during the main sessions: the interaction between policy, practice and research; the role of theory in understanding mathematics education in multilingual and multicultural environments; and cross-disciplinary perspectives in researching mathematics education in multilingual and multicultural environments. We organise our summary of the presentations in the main sessions of TSG32 around these themes (the presentations were not, however, presented in this sequence during the TSG ses-

Mathematical Discourse in Instruction in Large Classes

1 1 MATHEMATICAL DISCOURSE IN INSTRUCTION IN LARGE CLASSES Mike Askew University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa K. (Ravi) Subramaniam Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Mumbai, India Anjum Halai The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan Erlina Ronda University of the Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines Hamsa Venkat University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Jill Adler University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Steve Lerman London South Bank University, London, United Kingdom

Issues for quality enhancement and harmonization of education in East Africa

This chapter provides a description of the historical and political development of the current mass education system in East Africa. It goes on to provide a comparative analysis of the structure of the school education system in the East African countries, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Finally, on the basis of the historical and comparative analysis of the education system the chapter raises questions for harmonization of the education system in the partner states in the East African Community.