Mothers' experiences of their children's school mathematics at home: the impact of being a mother-teacher

Abstract

This study seeks to understand mothers' participation in their children's school mathematical learning. It focuses on the majority White-British cultural group, in terms of how they experience historical changes between their own school education and the education of their children. The study also explores the impact of mothers' personal histories in terms of direct participation in current methods of learning. The experiences of two different groups of White-British university-educated mothers were explored; those with teaching experience (direct participation in current teaching practices) and those without. Although the two groups showed similarities in the way they interpret their past experiences, those with teaching experience were able to construct more positive representations of current methods, and were able to bridge the gap between differing mathematical practices more easily. The study suggests, however, that even those mothers with positive representations of current practices may revert to the methods they formerly depended on, when confronted with their child's continuing confusion about mathematics.

Keywords:

• parental involvement
• home-school mathematics
• mothers' representations
• identities and practices

Notes

1. Information about the NVivo software used to support the analysis of the data can be found at http://www.qsrinternational.com/products_previous-products_nvivo2.aspx.

2. All names have been replaced with pseudonyms.