Mathematics has been widely described as a gatekeeper discipline shaping students’ educational opportunities, yet less attention has been paid to how this role is experienced and narrated by students themselves. Drawing on interviews with 40 final- year upper secondary students, this study adopts a situational and narrative approach to explore how mathematics emerges as a gatekeeping mechanism in students’ retrospective narratives of upper secondary school choice within the Italian educational system, characterized by differentiated pathways. Findings illustrate how mathematics becomes meaningful in students’ accounts through interactions with significant others, as its gatekeeping function emerges within situated processes of meaning-making rather than being assumed in advance.
“MATHS JUST WASN’T MY THING”: STUDENTS’ RETROSPECTIVE NARRATIVES OF MATHEMATICS AS A GATEKEEPER
Lisarelli, G.
Primo
2026-01-01
Abstract
Mathematics has been widely described as a gatekeeper discipline shaping students’ educational opportunities, yet less attention has been paid to how this role is experienced and narrated by students themselves. Drawing on interviews with 40 final- year upper secondary students, this study adopts a situational and narrative approach to explore how mathematics emerges as a gatekeeping mechanism in students’ retrospective narratives of upper secondary school choice within the Italian educational system, characterized by differentiated pathways. Findings illustrate how mathematics becomes meaningful in students’ accounts through interactions with significant others, as its gatekeeping function emerges within situated processes of meaning-making rather than being assumed in advance.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
