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Abstract
Ability grouping is a common practice in many mathematics classrooms. Its negative effects on students have been documented in research spanning two decades or more, and yet it is still widely implemented—in some countries even mandated. Using data from interviews with Australian students in the compulsory years of secondary schooling (14–16 year‐olds), and using the theoretical tools offered by Bourdieu, I argue that the objective practices of school mathematics create an environment through which students internalize the practices to develop a sense of self, a habitus. This habitus potentially is more or less empowering, depending on the experiences within these streamed settings.
Acknowledgement
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Mathematics Education and Society Conference, Denmark, April 2002.
Notes
1. The six schools were selected to represent qualitatively different aspects of the social milieus within Australian society. I did not intend the sample of schools to be seen as representative of the diversity of Australian communities, but I hoped it would give insights into potential differences in school experiences.
2. This question is particularly relevant to my Queesland context where students may choose to discontinue the study of mathematics after the compulsory years of schooling. Such an option is not always available to students in other states or countries.
3. I used NVivo, a qualitative software package designed using a grounded‐theory approach to category construction.