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Mathematical Learning and Its Difficulties in Eastern European Countries

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International Handbook of Mathematical Learning Difficulties

Abstract

In this chapter a review of the main features and difficulties of mathematics learning in Eastern European countries is provided. Setting out from historical, geographical, and political considerations about the definition of what Eastern Europe may mean in the context of mathematics education, we provide a general overview of curriculum shaping and the outcomes of these school systems. In Eastern European countries, there are some features of mathematics education that might be labeled as the heritage of “socialist mathematics education.” Among these features (and stereotypes), the role that mathematics plays in the system of school subjects, the characteristics of mathematics teacher education, and the importance of talent development are discussed.

Without discussing individual countries’ school systems, we have tried to capture the very essence of the cultural and educational traditions that still influence what difficulties mathematics educators and students face when teaching or learning mathematics. Albeit that some countries have introduced radical educational reforms recently, becoming successful according to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) surveys, most countries in the region can still be cited as examples of what people in other regions of the world consider “Eastern European.”

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Content Pedagogy Research Program of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Primary and Pre-school Education, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    Csaba Csíkos

  2. Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Szilárd András

  3. Faculty of Education and Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    Attila Rausch

  4. Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

    Anna Shvarts

  5. Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Anna Shvarts

Authors
  1. Csaba Csíkos
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  2. Szilárd András
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  3. Attila Rausch
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  4. Anna Shvarts
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Csaba Csíkos .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

    Annemarie Fritz

  2. Faculty of Education, Centre for Education Practice Research, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Annemarie Fritz

  3. Departamento de Psicologia, Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Vitor Geraldi Haase

  4. Niilo Mäki Institute, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Pekka Räsänen

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Csíkos, C., András, S., Rausch, A., Shvarts, A. (2019). Mathematical Learning and Its Difficulties in Eastern European Countries. In: Fritz, A., Haase, V.G., Räsänen, P. (eds) International Handbook of Mathematical Learning Difficulties. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97148-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97148-3_10

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