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Towards Equity in Mathematics Education pp 369–371Cite as

Preface to “A Socio-Political Look at Equity in the School Organization of Mathematics Education”

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Part of the book series: Advances in Mathematics Education ((AME))

Abstract

Whenever we place our attention on the issue of equity in mathematics education, we are addressing a broad social, political, economic, and cultural problem that is related to how societies create and set in place mechanisms that differentiate, include, and exclude certain peoples from valued resources, either material or symbolic. My main point in this paper is to provide evidence that it is not possible to assume that “equity” is a matter that only and exclusively emerges and is reproduced inside mathematics classrooms. Since “problems of equity” in mathematics are a part of general problems of equity, inclusion, and exclusion in society at large (Pais and Valero 2011), I intend to focus on how the notions of ability/disability associated with the exclusion of certain children emerge in the practices and discourses inside the school organization. Of course, the school organization, again, is only one site in which mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion operate in society.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Paola Valero

Authors
  1. Paola Valero
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Correspondence to Paola Valero .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac. Education, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton, 3800, Victoria, Australia

    Helen Forgasz

  2. Dept. Mathematics, San Jose State University, Washington Square 1, San Jose, 95192, California, USA

    Ferdinand Rivera

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Valero, P. (2012). Preface to “A Socio-Political Look at Equity in the School Organization of Mathematics Education”. In: Forgasz, H., Rivera, F. (eds) Towards Equity in Mathematics Education. Advances in Mathematics Education. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27702-3_33

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