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The Ideology of Mastering the Curriculum (with Peter Pawlik)

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A Contemporary Theory of Mathematics Education Research

Abstract

This chapter provides a Lacanian examination of how teachers resolve the pressures of working to curriculum demands. Centred in the doctoral studies of my Manchester colleague Peter Pawlik, the chapter considers how recent international developments in mathematics teaching have been influenced by what we see as the ideological notion of the mastery curriculum. Lacan’s four fundamental discourses (master, university, hysteric and analytic) provide an analytical framework linking governance, institutionalised education and resistance. A case study of a teacher (Emily) is used to illustrate how this discursive patterning of educational policies is integrated into practice. Emily’s early experiences of a “mastery style of teaching” were progressive, to the point where she felt the need to “strip back (her) own knowledge of maths to then reteach in another way”. In this way, Emily was being absorbed into the ideology of the mastery curriculum.

This chapter draws on material from:

Pawlik, P. (2020). The discursive construction of the mastery curriculum in mathematics. Doctor of Education thesis. Manchester Metropolitan University.

Brown, T., Rowley, H. & Smith, K. (2014). Rethinking research in teacher education. British Journal of Educational Studies. 62 (3), 281–296.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Maths Hub (2020). About Maths Hub. [Online] [accessed on 5 June 2020] https://www.mathshubs.org.uk/about-maths-hubs/.

  2. 2.

    Mathematics Mastery (2020). Secondary Classroom Resources. [Online] [accessed on 22 May 2020] https://www.mathematicsmastery.org/classroom-resources-secondary-maths-teaching-support?phase=secondary&c=5ec7deb239305.

  3. 3.

    Statification resonates with Foucault’s (2009) “governmentality” in which the state appears as a given entity which is necessary for governmental practices to function.

  4. 4.

    Year 10 includes students aged 14–15 years.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

    Tony Brown

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Brown, T. (2020). The Ideology of Mastering the Curriculum (with Peter Pawlik). In: A Contemporary Theory of Mathematics Education Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55100-1_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55100-1_4

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