Smith, C; (2011) 'Sometimes I think wow I'm doing further mathematics...': Balancing tensions between aspiring and belonging. In: Atweh, B and Graven, M., Secada, W., Valero, P, M and Secada, W and Valero, P, (eds.) Mapping Equity and Quality in Mathematics Education. (pp. 285-298). Springer, Dordrecht: Dordrecht, Netherlands.

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Abstract

What can the particular context of ‘further mathematics’ tell us about conceptions of quality and equity in mathematics education and their changing interactions over time? Further mathematics A-level is a traditional gate-keeper qualification in the United Kingdom, but many state schools lack the resources to teach it. A national project to widen participation has promoted further mathematics and allowed students to opt in to out-of-school classes. In this chapter, I argue that choosing further mathematics links quality and equity to understandings of the self as individual project and narrative. I show how the promotional texts of further mathematics use metaphors to sustain and address tensions between quality and equity. Drawing on interviews with one student, I identify how these representations of further mathematics intersect with liberal ‘practices of the self’. I argue that quality as depth is a powerful construction that inevitably disables students from understanding themselves as belonging within further mathematics.

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