The Struggle for a Socially-just Pedagogy: an ethnographic study of a mathematics classroom

This study is based in a social-constructivist framework, interpreted through the lens of feminist and other emancipatory writing. The researchers combine ethnographic and action research methods to explore the activity of a teacher working in what she views as a ‘constitutively oppressive’ context. The focus is on examining how successful the teacher can be in recognising and valuing a variety of forms of knowing while working within a curriculum context that appears to privilege one particular form of knowledge. The study was designed and carried out through collaboration between teacher and researcher. It illustrates how the teacher is mostly successful in generating a connected form of knowing for her pupils, albeit at the expense of her continuous struggle against the constraining influence of what she experiences as formidable external pressures.