Mathematics teachers and social justice: a systematic review of empirical studies

ABSTRACT

The issue of social justice has been regularly addressed in many published papers in mathematics education research, particularly after 2000, when the discipline took a more explicit socio-political turn. However, there does not appear to be a consensus as to what the term designates and includes. This paper is a systematic review of the empirical studies published from 2000 until the middle of 2019 that explicitly address social justice from the perspective of practising mathematics teachers and/or teaching. More specifically, we examine (a) how social justice is conceptualised in the identified studies, (b) what specific issues are investigated and methodological approaches employed to do so, and (c) the main key points that arise from their empirical findings. Implications and suggestions of how the field can move forward are discussed at the end.

KEYWORDS:

• Mathematics education
• social justice
• systematic review
• teachers
• teaching

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Constantinos Xenofontos

Constantinos Xenofontos is a Lecturer in Education, specialising in mathematics education.

Sally Fraser

Sally Fraser is a Lecturer in Education, specialising in primary science.

Andrea Priestley

Andrea Priestley is a Lecturer in Education, specialising in inclusion and children's wellbeing.

Mark Priestley

Mark Priestley is a Professor of Education, specialising in curriculum studies.