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This article explores the effect on assessment of ‘translating’ paper and pencil test items into their computer equivalents. Computer versions of a set of mathematics questions derived from the paper-based end of key stage 2 and 3 assessments in England were administered to age appropriate pupil samples, and the outcomes compared. Although in most cases the change to the different medium seems to make little difference, for some items the affordances of the computer profoundly affect how the question is attempted, and therefore what is being assessed when the item is used in a test. These differences are considered in terms of validity and legitimacy, that is whether the means used to answer a question in a particular medium are appropriate to the assessment intention. The conclusion is not only that translating paper and pencil items into the computer format sometimes undermines their validity as assessments, it is also that some paper and pencil items are less valid as assessments than their computer equivalents would be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we focus on an initiative in England devised to prepare non-mathematics graduates to train as secondary mathematics teachers through a 6-month Mathematics Enhancement Course (MEC) to boost their subject knowledge. The course documentation focuses on the need to develop 'understanding mathematics in-depth' in students in order for them to become successful mathematics teachers. We take a poststructural approach, so we are not interested in asking what such an understanding is, about the value of this approach or about the effectiveness of the MECs in developing this understanding in their participants. Instead we explore what positions this discourse of 'understanding mathematics in-depth' makes available to MEC students. We do this by looking in detail at the 'identity work' of two students, analysing how they use and are used by this discourse to position themselves as future mathematics teachers. In doing so, we show how even benign-looking social practices such as 'understanding mathematics in-depth' are implicated in practices of inclusion and exclusion. We show this through detailed readings of interviews with two participants, one of whom fits with the dominant discourses in the MEC and the other who, despite passing the MEC, experiences tensions between her national identity work and MEC discourses. We argue that it is vital to explore 'identity work' within teacher education contexts to ensure that becoming a successful mathematics teacher is equally available to all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the activity of three secondary school mathematics departments in England in self-initiated states of change that led to overall improvements in students' achievements when compared to previous cohorts. This took place without intervention and without their participation in external projects. They provide examples of departments that can work effectively on their own development, and hence, their work adds to our knowledge of the potential for development through collaboration. The departments were monitored over 3 years, and data were analysed using the lens of activity theory. In contrast to departments in many studies, these departments worked overtly on mathematics pedagogy through the shared production and discussion of resources, shared planning and task design. Also in contrast to several other studies, they developed distinct ways to handle differences of subject knowledge among the teachers in the department. Their focus changed during the study from developing resource banks to supporting students' learning through hybrid teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We draw on two studies of mathematics departments in 11-18 comprehensive maintained schools in England to compare and contrast the insights provided by differing theoretical perspectives. In one study, activity theory was used to describe common features of the work of three departments. In the other, a mathematics department was viewed and analysed as a complex system. In both cases, it was the learning of the departments as systems rather than of individuals that was of interest. The affordances and limitations of the analytical perspectives are discussed. Taken as a whole, this paper opens up the workings of school mathematics departments in a country which has a strong department culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Videotape is an increasingly used tool in cross-national studies of mathematics teaching. However, the means by which videotaped lessons are coded and analysed remains an underdeveloped area with scholars adopting substantially different approaches to the task. In this paper we present an approach based on generic descriptors of mathematics learning objectives. Exploiting live observations in five European countries, the descriptors were developed in a bottom-up recursive manner for application to videotaped lessons from four of these countries, Belgium (Flanders), England, Hungary and Spain. The analyses showed not only that the descriptors were consistently operationalised but also that they facilitated the identification of both similarities and differences in the ways in which teachers conceptualise and present mathematics that resonated with the available literature. In so doing we make both methodological and theoretical contributions to comparative mathematics research in general and debates concerning the national mathematics teaching script in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies of children's attitudes to mathematics have dealt with children in second grade or later, and have suggested that attitudes deteriorate, and anxiety increases with age. The present study investigated attitudes to mathematics in 67 English and 49 Chinese children at the end of their first year of school. The participants were given Thomas and Dowker's (2000) Mathematics Attitude Questionnaire, which uses pictorial rating scales to assess primary school children's mathematics anxiety, liking for mathematics, unhappiness at poor performance in mathematics, and self-rating in mathematics. They were also given the British Abilities Scales Basic Number Skills test. Attitudes were generally positive, though not more so than previously found for older primary school children. The Chinese children performed better in the arithmetic test and also rated themselves higher than the English children, but did not differ in other attitudes. Self-rating in mathematics and lack of unhappiness at poor performance were associated with better performance in the English group. There were no significant relationships between attitudes and performance in the Chinese group. Implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trainee teachers, new and non-specialist teachers of elementary mathematics have a tendency to avoid thought about reasons in mathematics. Instead, they tend to favour the development of computational skill through the rote application of procedures, routines and algorithms. Could elementary mathematics textbooks serve as models of practice and support the professional development of these teachers? Eighteen such textbooks for use by 7 to 11-year-old children in England were examined for their potential to help teachers attend to reasons. It was found that they were unlikely to point teachers towards reasons for patterns and procedures. Although some had the potential to help in introducing and structuring a lesson, they were unlikely to induce the teacher to address matters of understanding in their discourse. Their implicit message tended to be that mathematics education is about computational skill development through routines, algorithms and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the pedagogical ideas underpinning teachers' accounts of the successful use of computer-based tools and resources to support the teaching and learning of mathematics. These accounts were elicited through group interviews with the mathematics departments in seven English secondary schools, conducted in the first half of 2000. The central themes are organised to form a pedagogical model, capable of informing use of such technologies in classroom teaching, and of generating theoretical conjectures for future research. The thematic components of the model are summarised and related to prior research into computer use in mainstream schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes the responses of children to realistic mathematics problems in England. Details of the problems; Ability of the students to offer reasons in support of their answer; Absence of difference between girls and boys.