Researching the net-work of
school (mathematics)
education practices
Paola Valero
PhD course “Designing social learning systems in a globalized
world: At the crossroads of cultural diversity and technological
development”
Sæby, November 5-8, 2007
A dialectic relationship in
research
Research
object
Theoretical
perspective
Broadening my perspective
1994-1997 in Colombia
Context: Educational policy changes and
demands for change in school subjects.
Emphasis on the quality of education seen in
terms of students’ “mathematical power”
Question: What is it needed in order to make
education improve in quality?
Principles: People are the motor of change.
Change should involve the school community
as a whole.
Institutional System of
Mathematics Education
(ISME)
Professional
knowledge
Pri ncipal’s
leadership
Beliefs
Professional interest
Thinking structures
Curri cular
design
Professional
development
Professional interaction
Refl exion
Thinking processes
Teacher
Professional
culture
Group of mathematics teachers
Coordi nator’s
leadership
Leaders
Lessons:
– Understanding school change demands
understanding the dynamics of
mathematics education in the school
organization.
– The school system is embedded in larger
systems and they influence its functioning
• Many “disruptions” in school functioning
• Assumption: We can recognize the influence,
though we can’t act on it and therefore it is
worth studying only the dynamics on which we
can have influence.
1997-2001 in Denmark
My study:
Reform
Democracy
(Sociopolitical
approach)
Institutional
System of
Mathematics
Education
Starting point: Reformulation of the notion of
ISME
– Empirical work
• Three exemplary cases in three different countries
(Nyspor, Rajas, Esperanza)
• A “theory-case contrast” design
• An information collection strategy that covered the areas
of the ISME with a variety of techniques:
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classroom interaction observation, video and audio taped
students with one-time cameras
significant pieces of work for students and teachers
interviews
informal conversations
policy documents at different levels
Information materials
• Analysis of information and construction of data through
the construction of “vivid images” (episodes)
– Theoretical work
• Episodes as triggers of reflection
• Search for possible and plausible
interpretations
• Discourse analysis of existing literature (school
reform, organizational theory, mathematics
education)
The process: Development of a language
of interpretation to talk about reform in
the ISME from a socio-political
perspective
Issues that emerged from the analysis
– The problem of context and complexity
• How to account for the “external factors” that
evidently influence education reform in
schools?
• Which is the dominant way in which “context” is
dealt with in the field of study in which the study
is located?
• How to conceptualize context so that the
“research objects” can be interpreted in relation
to their surrounding?
– The problem of an analysis that goes beyond
initial research focus
• If context is important, how does one builds an analysis
that connects the elements of the ISME to layers of
context?
– The problem of theory
• Which kinds of concepts are helpful in such analysis?
(Perspective)
• What do these concepts imply for the construction of
research objects?
– The problem of methodology
• What do theoretical perspectives and research objects
imply for the process of knowing in the research?
• How do I act as a researcher?
– A focal point on the continuum
Agency ----------------------------Structure
– Reduction of complexity
– Empirical research
In the field of educational research
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Sociology of education
Organizational learning
Social theory of learning
General didactics
Subject matter didactics (Mathematics education)
• Focus on mathematical learning as an individual
cognitive process
• Individuals are a privileged unit of analysis
• Research objects dominantly defined in term of the
“didactic triad”
Linking micro and macro is a challenge:
“This switching between the smallest and widest units
of observation is the normal and necessary
procedure of the sociologist; it is one of the most
characteristic traits of the field of sociological study
and at the same time constitutes one of its greatest
difficulties. For the sociologist there is no break in
continuity between the microsociological and
macrosociological planes, but rather interpenetration
and complementarity of two levels of social reality
and two levels of analysis.
From Rocher, G. (1972). A general introduction to sociology. A
theoretical perspective. New York: St. Martin Press, p. 6)
What is involved in the challenge?
– Acknowledgement of social complexity
– Contextualization
– Historicity
– Interpenetration and complementarity of
levels
A post-rationalization
A socio-political perspective
Mathematics education studies the
historically-situated, social processes
through which concrete human being get
involved in the creation and re-creation of
diverse forms of knowledge and ways of
reasoning related to mathematics
Actors
Teachers
Students
Parents
Leaders
Politicians
Employers
Meaning
• Mathematics education is seen as a net-work
of social practices
• The meaning of learning and teaching
mathematics is constructed in the relationship
between:
Classroom
School
Family
Educational
policy
Labor market
Social, political,
economic,
cultural arenas
International arena
International
organizations
Nation
School
Policy makers
Leaders
Friends
Classroom
T
E
M
Parents
Colleagues
Employers
Teacher educators
International arena
Nation
Policy-making
practice
School
International
comparison
practices
Leadership
practice
Classroom practice
T
Staff prof.
practice
Research
practice
Technology
development
practice
Youth
practice
E
M
Teacher
education
practices
Working
practice
Family
practice
International
policy practice