Researching mathematics in rural primary multigrade classrooms

Abstract

Rural Australia has long been framed from a metrocentric deficit stance and reported as underachieving in school mathematics according to standardised assessments. International evidence claims that factors contributing to low achievement in mathematics for rural students may include geographical isolation, equity issues including access, and socio-economic status and indigeneity. This paper reports on one aspect of a doctoral study, which responded to the central question, what is really happening in middle-primary mathematics education in rural Australia? The study presented a counter-narrative to the deficit discourse through an emic perspective of middle-primary mathematics on Yorke Peninsula (YP), a rural district in southern Australia. The YP schools investigated had high numbers of multigrade classes which is typical of small, rural schools. In this paper we share the key inclusive pedagogical approaches that YP teachers adopted in their teaching of mathematics to the multiple year levels in their rural classrooms. The study provides guidance for teachers around how to plan for and teach, with an inclusive lens, mathematics to students in multigrade classrooms.