Kevin Lowe

Enhancing Quality and Equity in Mathematics Education for Australian Indigenous Students

That Australian Aboriginal students should enjoy high-quality and equitable mathematics learning outcomes is seen as a fundamental human right. This chapter discusses connectedness, relevance and belonging to examine the importance of community on quality and equity in mathematics education for Aboriginal students. In particular, it investigates the notion of school-community engagement through mathematics. The chapter reports on the importance of the community processes, people relationships and leadership required to enhance quality, equity and social capital within communities with high proportions of Aboriginal people. It reprises the criteria of social justice, empowerment, engagement, reconciliation, connectedness and relevance to develop a framework for evaluating mathematics programs for Aboriginal students. A number of mathematics programs for Aboriginal students, in which the authors have been involved, are examined using these criteria to provide evidence on how the equity and quality of Aboriginal students’ mathematics learning can be enhanced.