Abstract

This talk will focus on aspects of our research programme aimed at building a more inclusive school mathematics and committed to challenging discriminatory visions of students’ potential for mathematics learning. It will share activities and results that have emerged during collaborative partnerships between teachers and researchers that cross the boundaries between the domains of research and practice. Examples from our work with disabled learners will be presented in order to explore our combined attempts to understand the different learning trajectories by which students appropriate mathematical concepts and the mediational tools that might substitute conventional ways of expressing mathematics. Through engaging participants with alternative ways of working mathematically, designed to respect student diversity, the aim will be to communicate how our findings have relevance beyond the particular contexts in which they initially emerged and contribute to the critiquing of existing school structures that marginalise, exclude and disable many mathematics learners.