The name is absent

139

b) Political Concerns

In the next extract Ml takes account of both Maths and Science and

applies political

perspectives more widely to the curriculum.

School B 30.10.81  P13 mi

Ml It’s very hard in teaching mathematics for
someone who’s socially and politically cons-
cious, it’s hard to teach it in the way you’d
like to teach it - like science, it’s often
taught very badly because it’s seen as a
neutral thing .....

The divorce of political and educational concerns_z- so much a feature
of English education recurs throughout the analysis of these trans-
cripts. The nature of the recurrence underlines the importance of
approaching educational issues which are at once political and social
in contexts where there is unlikely to be a consensus either of

direction or of ways of looking. The school group and method group

create distinct possibilities, for in the latter there are many pres-

sures towards consensus which are hard to break as was illustrated

in the Research Group.

Is it harder for the teacher of Mathematics

than say the teacher of Himanities or Social studies or what are

the social

implications of the teaching of Mathematics compared with

say, RE? What happens when schools explicitly try to relate curri-

cular knowledge to pupils’ social experience as in social or community

education?

In several of the

schools such work is underway or under

discussion

and later student

teachers will be seen taking part in

this.

The

point to make here

is that teacher education has to equip

expertise will become