Children at Work

Abstract

This chapter looks at the doing of mathematics in classrooms as a specific kind of work. This work was allocated a space in the daily timetable and for the most part required children to perform written tasks while seated alone at desks. Work was defined through the teachers’ use of tasks expressed through instructions on the board, worksheets, and textbook exercises. The chapter presents classroom talk, feedback in children’s books, and teachers’ descriptions of what they valued in their teaching of mathematics. Task completion, neatness, and the correct setting out of the mathematics exercise books were more highly valued by the teachers than children’s mathematical thinking. The use of concrete materials was limited, and discussion between children was discouraged. Children who performed tasks in the manner expected were described as independent. The chapter demonstrates how the children were made within these discursive practices as mathematical workers.