This study explores teacher perspectives on a government policy that seeks to integrate Indigenous knowledge into mainstream foreign language education in New Zealand schools. Based on in-depth interviews, the study found that language teachers generally support this educational change because trans/languaging involving English and te reo Maori…

Participation structures are important in relation to who gets equitable access to mathematics within classrooms premised on co-construction of mathematical reasoning. This paper takes a strength-based focus to explore how two teachers extended their Pasifika students' known repertoires of practice to encompass others, which supported them to…

This paper argues that the idea that tertiary education in New Zealand is a public good has been inhibited by extreme policies that treat education as a commodity and the education sector as a market. Education is about producing highly skilled, knowledgeable and useful citizens and the notion of a 'profit' is in 'creating educated citizens' (TEU,…

Pasifika cultures have a rich background of mathematics including a strong emphasis on patterns used within craft design (Finau & Stillman, 1995). However, there have been limited studies which have investigated the use of contextual Pasifika patterns in mathematics classrooms. The aim of this study was to explore how contextual Pasifika…

Patterns of participation in mathematics are often affected by power and status structures in the classroom. This case study focuses on two 10-year-old students who have achievement and status and power issues in mathematics, within a class of predominantly Maori and Pasifika students from low socio-economic backgrounds. The findings illustrate…

Research in both the New Zealand and international contexts identifies the need for New Zealand classrooms to foster culturally responsive and mathematical practices that align with Påsifika students' cultural values, backgrounds, interests and experiences. The aim of this study was to investigate how the use of culturally responsive tasks along…

Research shows that developing students' resilience can rapidly raise student achievement in mathematics. Despite recognising its importance, teachers often do not have access to a repertoire of practices to develop resilient mathematics learners. The present study explores aspects of resilience among a cohort of students from three low…

It is acknowledged that there are connections between language use and mathematics in mathematics education, and the potential challenges this issue can pose have been investigated by researchers. Yet how the challenges can be overcome in statistics classrooms, where language is even more important as a medium of instruction, has received very…

If we are to understand 'equal educational opportunity' to mean education that is freely available to all citizens irrespective of their age, race, sex, religion, ethnic origin and unrelated to ability, performance, and qualification; then the questions posed by this conference are relative. What counts as educational opportunity, for whom has it…

Education research focused on Pacific Islanders over the past 30 years has overwhelmingly concluded that U.S. systems of education are failing these students, but the global movement towards culturally relevant and inclusive education has had an indelible impact on the number and types of support available for Pacific Islander students in the…

This study investigated teachers' views, all from a Pacific Island context, of assessment practices as it relates to mathematics learning in early childhood, primary, and secondary settings. Based on the analysis of these views, collected via a written survey (n=25) from invited workshop participants in Nauru, a series of four mathematics…

Home-school partnerships in mathematics are increasingly seen as a significant contributor to learners' success in school mathematics. Partnering with learners' families can, however, be challenging for schools. This study focused on an exploration of home-school partnership practices in one culturally diverse, low socioeconomic school in…

Classrooms around the world are becoming increasingly diverse. A major challenge faced by educators is achieving equity for all mathematics learners. To achieve equity, educators need to acknowledge and cater for this increasing diversity which includes attending to values of their students. Drawing on survey responses and individual interviews,…

For Indigenous students in minority education contexts, it is important that teachers have strategies to combine both cultural knowledge and mathematical knowledge in appropriate ways. This paper presents the results from analysing preservice teachers' statistical enquiry assignment linked to a cultural context, in a Maori-medium teacher education…

The Every Student Succeed Act (ESSA) brings significant changes as well as opportunities for schools to improve their students' academic outcomes. One proposed regulation is for states to analyze the performance of student subgroups separately in order to show how states are levelling the playing field over time to ensure educational equity. This…