New methodologies for comparative research? Establishing ‘constants’ and ‘contexts’ in educational experience

Understanding the Cultural Construction of School Mathematics

“…In the following, mindful of such problems, I focus on European systems and the more subtle ways in which cultures influence educational practices in general and mathematics teaching in particular. For example, at the general level, Osborn (2004) has shown how societal privileging of the individual, the community and the nation -emphases explicable by reference to the various cultural models discussed above -underpin educational expectations and practices in, respectively, England, Denmark and France. With respect to the particulars of mathematics, the antiscientific traditions of the English curriculum and the rational encyclopaedic traditions of the French curriculum (Holmes andMcLean, 1989, Cummings, 1999) may explain findings that English mathematics teachers work to reduce the complexity of mathematics for their students, while French teachers work towards an "induction into that complexity" (Jennings and Dunne, 1996, p.51).…”

Mathematics teacher typologies or nationally located patterns of behaviour?

“…) (2006) Mathematics education in different cultural traditions: A comparative study of East Asia and the West, New York, Springer, differences between countries of cultural similarity. For example, Sharpe (1997) notes how the Protestant and Catholic churches influenced the development of education in England and France while Osborn (2004) discusses how emphases on the individual, community and nation have informed educational practices and expectations in England, Denmark and France respectively. In respect of mathematics, Kaiser (2002) reports how differences in the philosophical underpinnings of the English and German educational systems influence how mathematics is taught.…”

Editorial Introduction

“…In the following, mindful of such problems, I focus on European systems and the more subtle ways in which cultures influence educational practices in general and mathematics teaching in particular. For example, at the general level, Osborn (2004) has shown how societal privileging of the individual, the community and the nation-emphases explicable by reference to the various cultural models discussed above-underpin educational expectations and practices in, respectively, England, Denmark and France. With respect to the particulars of mathematics, the anti-scientific traditions of the English curriculum and the rational encyclopaedic traditions of the French curriculum (Holmes and McLean 1989;Cummings 1999) may explain findings that English mathematics teachers work to reduce the complexity of mathematics for their students, while French teachers work towards an "induction into that complexity" (Jennings and Dunne 1996, p. 51).…”