Inclusive Mathematics Teaching: Understanding and developing school and classroom strategies for raising attainment

Funded by the Norwegian Research Council

Students’ performance and engagement with mathematics is crucial to their future education and training.  Yet international tests and national patterns of attainment suggest that many students in Norway do not reach their full potential in this subject.  At the same time, the curriculum in Norway is changing towards an emphasis on mathematical processes such as problem solving, reasoning  and argumentation, rather than mathematical products.  Including all learners and developing their understanding presents a challenge for teachers and a need to develop new strategies for teaching.

The project focus is on mathematics in grades 5-10.

The IMaT project addresses the need to make mathematics teaching in Norway more inclusive by:

  • Surveying schools across Norway to find out more about how they organise education in mathematics, and the impact of different strategies including attainment grouping on student outcomes;
  • Interviewing municipality leaders and school leaders in those municipalities to understand their processes of decision-making about how teaching is organised;
  • Looking closely at classrooms to understand teachers’ practice, and how students engage with mathematics;
  • Developing and evaluating an intervention based on Realistic Mathematics Education, known for its positive impact on attainment and engagement across the range of ages and abilities.

The project began in January 2019, and will be completed in December 2023.

Read more about the project organisation here.