The research questions addressed in this paper are related to the identification of the didactical needs of Mathematics teachers dealing with different cultures in their classrooms. The ones we chose to present are: What practices do teachers develop in multicultural classes? What are their conceptions about Mathematics and how do they influence their practices? What are their expectations towards students from other cultures? What are their beliefs concerning multicultural students? What do they account that needs to be changed in order to achieve a quality education for all? What needs do they identify in order to implement more intercultural practices? If we would sum up in a more general research question, that would be: How is diversity seen through teachers’ eyes? Thus, this last question is the main focus of this paper. To know the conceptions about Mathematics, beliefs, expectations, daily practices that Mathematics teachers use in their classes, and the school achievement of immigrant and/or minority culture children compared to mainstream ones, we began by submitting a questionnaire to around three hundreds mathematics teachers in Italy, Portugal and Spain. Around fifty teachers where then interviewed. The first research findings show that, although teachers’ discourses, at a surface level of analysis, may seem quite supportive towards multicultural classes, they indeed have several marks of exclusion within them, implicitly. Mathematics teachers tend to make invisible differences that need to be illuminated in order to empower students from minority cultures.
Diversity seen through teachers' eyes: discourses about multicultural classes
FAVILLI, FRANCO
2006-01-01
Abstract
The research questions addressed in this paper are related to the identification of the didactical needs of Mathematics teachers dealing with different cultures in their classrooms. The ones we chose to present are: What practices do teachers develop in multicultural classes? What are their conceptions about Mathematics and how do they influence their practices? What are their expectations towards students from other cultures? What are their beliefs concerning multicultural students? What do they account that needs to be changed in order to achieve a quality education for all? What needs do they identify in order to implement more intercultural practices? If we would sum up in a more general research question, that would be: How is diversity seen through teachers’ eyes? Thus, this last question is the main focus of this paper. To know the conceptions about Mathematics, beliefs, expectations, daily practices that Mathematics teachers use in their classes, and the school achievement of immigrant and/or minority culture children compared to mainstream ones, we began by submitting a questionnaire to around three hundreds mathematics teachers in Italy, Portugal and Spain. Around fifty teachers where then interviewed. The first research findings show that, although teachers’ discourses, at a surface level of analysis, may seem quite supportive towards multicultural classes, they indeed have several marks of exclusion within them, implicitly. Mathematics teachers tend to make invisible differences that need to be illuminated in order to empower students from minority cultures.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
