Is There a Role for Mathematical Disciplinarity in Productive Learning for the Workplace?

This paper situates mathematical content and process knowledge within the construct of broad occupational competence. It is critical of many developments in vocational mathematics curriculum and pedagogical practice in Australia over the last decade or so, especially the trend towards the de-institutionalisation of disciplinary knowledge. This has been accompanied by a chronic lack of professional development for many involved in vocational education to enable development of this mathematical knowledge. Meanwhile, workers' actual and potential mathematical knowledges remain largely unrecognised, whilst irrelevant, often infantile, pedagogic texts form their subjectivities as doers rather than knowers, always in need of more training to adapt to ever-changing technologies of workplace plant and management. It argues that to attempt to satisfy government and industry demands for a creative, problem-solving workforce−to say nothing of workers' entitlement to democratic participation−there is a need for mathematical disciplinarity beyond current practice.