Weaving a web to catch them all: inclusive pedagogies in mathematics

Abstract Inclusion is an area of strategic importance in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally, requiring that all learners have access to quality education. Nonetheless, children with disabilities in our schools are often excluded from rich learning opportunities, particularly in mathematics. Teaching through inclusive pedagogies, by contrast, supports teachers to plan for and teach all children; however, we know little about how teachers may apply these approaches to their teaching of mathematics. In this article, we report on a case study of one teacher’s practice as we develop a ‘research lesson’ approach that enhances the engagement and learning of all children, including those who are most at risk of being excluded in mathematics lessons. Participants described challenges to inclusive teaching mathematics such as differentiation, engaging contexts, children’s experience of anxiety, and children’s comfort with oral language and discussion. We found that research lesson reflections enabled solutions to be found for these challenges as part of the process of identifying them. We argue that an approach focussed on inclusion is a tool with potential to help teachers to rethink their mathematics classroom organisation and planning. Inclusive teaching may be enacted differently depending on the context; however, we found the key teaching practice to be planning for inclusion at the outset, followed by focussed reflections on teaching. Further, we suggest that research into innovative mathematics pedagogies is most likely to be successful when there is a focus on inclusive pedagogy.