Introduction to the Special Issue: deepening engagement in mathematics in pre-university education

Abstract

At a time when many countries wish to improve their capacity in terms of scientifically and technologically educated young people, mathematics has an increasingly important role to play in support of this agenda. International studies tend to lead to headlines about performance and achievement, but widening participation in mathematics requires more than this. Fundamentally, we need students to develop positive dispositions towards mathematics and continued study of the subject. The articles brought together in this special issue explore underlying issues reporting on the work of a research project that focused on two different programmes of mathematical study in the first year of post-compulsory study in England. The wide-ranging work that is reported provides timely insights, through both quantitative and qualitative lenses, as students in transition negotiate their identities as young people in general, and in relation to mathematics in particular.

Keywords:

• transition
• socio-cultural theory
• identity

Acknowledgements

The authors of the papers in this Special Issue would like to thank all colleagues who supported their work and the teachers and students who gave so generously of their time.

The members of the team were:

Principal Investigator: Julian Williams; Co-Investigators: Laura Black, Pauline Davis, Graeme Hutcheson, Su Nicholson and Geoff Wake; Research Assistants: Paul Hernandez-Martinez, Maria Pampaka; Administrator: Tim Millar.

Further details of the project reported here and other research in this area can be found at: http://www.education.manchester.ac.uk/research/centres/lta/LTAResearch/transmath/

The team are particularly indebted to, and would like to thank, the ESRC-TLRP programme of research into widening participation, for Keeping Open the Door to Mathematically-Demanding Further and Higher Education Programmes (RES-139-25-0241) and the support of the ESRC for the ‘Transmaths’ projects Mathematics Learning, Identity and Educational Practice: the Transition into Post-Compulsory Education (RES-000-22-2890) and Mathematics Learning, Identity and Educational Practice: the Transition into Higher Education (RES-062-23-1213). We would also acknowledge the continuing support of the ESRC through the award of a grant to disseminate the work more widely (award: RES-189-25-0235: Promoting Participation and Engagement in Post-Compulsory Mathematics Education for STEM).

Notes

1. Throughout the research reported here is in the context of England. Although there are often similarities in education in general in the UK, there are a number of important differences across UK constituent nations. Wales and Northern Ireland use the same qualifications systems, although there are many structural differences in their education systems. Scotland, on the other hand, has both its own independent system and qualifications.

2. GCSEs are normally taken at the end of compulsory education in England at age 16 in a range of subjects, including mathematics.

3. The AS qualification is normally taken in post-compulsory education. It is typically taken at the end of one year of study towards A-level, which requires a further year of study (often known as the A2 year).