Becoming disadvantaged: Public discourse around national testing

Troels Lange, Tamsin Meaney

    Research output: Book chapter/Published conference paperConference paperpeer-review

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    Abstract

    The importance of mathematics or its alter ego 'numeracy' has been cemented in the public's mind with the instigation of national, high-stakes testing in Australia. As part of the discourse around these tests, it is possible to see how a process of social valorisation operates. Using press releases, online news articles and online public comments, we show how politicians, parents, teachers and the general public discuss ideas around disadvantage in relationship to national testing of numeracy. Deficit language in these discussions identifies some children as being less likely to gain value from mathematics instruction. On the other hand, there is also a perception that poor results for individual schools contribute to their students being seen by the wider community as disadvantaged.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of the Seventh Congress
    Place of PublicationPoland
    PublisherCERME
    Pages1-10
    Number of pages10
    Publication statusPublished - 2011
    EventCongress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME) - Poland, Poland
    Duration: 09 Feb 201113 Feb 2011

    Conference

    ConferenceCongress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME)
    Country/TerritoryPoland
    Period09/02/1113/02/11

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