Understanding the development of oracy practices in secondary school mathematics classrooms in England and Canada
UoB Lead Professor Alf Coles is hosting Professor Nathalie Sinclair from Simon Fraser University, Canada.
Project Summary:
School mathematics is a gateway to further study and (in England and Canada) one which serves to marginalise students facing socio-economic disadvantage. We know developing oracy (listening/speaking) is a key mechanism for addressing disadvantage. This fellowship will develop understanding of what effective classroom oracy looks like in secondary mathematics, how a classroom “oracy culture” develops over a school year, and how teachers learn to support oracy. The researchers will develop a relationship-focused (“ecological”) approach to studying oracy, and will run a pilot in one Bristol secondary school, following four mathematics teachers as they build oracy routines. Findings will inform two larger grant bids (UK and Canada) and produce a conference paper, an academic and a teacher-focused article. The fellowship is timely, with a new curriculum in England focusing on oracy and, in Canada, on-going work, nationally and regionally, on indigenising the curriculum, which has a key strand of oracy.