Immigrant pupils in elementary classrooms of Cyprus: how teachers view them as learners of mathematics

Abstract

Research in diverse mathematics classrooms suggests that pupils’ learning is influenced by both linguistic and cultural factors. In recent years, the demographics of Cypriot (mathematics) classrooms have become very diverse. In 2003, the Ministry of Education and Culture introduced the Zones of Educational Priorities, a UNESCO strategy for positive discrimination, to support schools with high proportions of immigrant pupils. This paper examines how elementary teachers in such schools see their immigrant pupils as learners of mathematics. The findings confirm two main factors identified in the literature (language and culture), yet the Cypriot teachers in this study share some particular views on how these features impact mathematics learning. Some recommendations for policy-making and future research are discussed at the end of this paper.

Keywords:

• immigrant pupils
• mathematics learning
• teachers
• Cyprus

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express special thanks to Prof. Paul Andrews (University of Stockholm, Sweden), Dr Costas Mannouris, and Maria Petrides for their valuable feedback on earlier versions of this paper.

Notes

1. In this paper, and particularly in the findings, readers will find references to Roma pupils as immigrants. Technically this is not true since in Cyprus, Roma are constitutionally recognised as Turkish-Cypriots, but they are called immigrants simply because of their cultural differences from the Greek-Cypriot community. Besides, after the Turkish invasion in 1974, they were forced to move to the north part of the island with the Turkish-Cypriot population. Some of them migrated to the south part (controlled by the official government of the Republic of Cyprus) after 2004, when the checkpoints forbidding movement between the ‘borders’ of the north and the south were opened.