Aims and Rationale for the Topic

This discussion group attracted congress participants interested in exchanging ideas and discussing issues and challenges related to mathematics education in schooling systems where large classes (40+ students) are the norm. Large classes are sometimes viewed as limiting students’ opportunities to learn, but the fact that being in a large class is the reality for many students, particularly in developing nations, led the organisers of this discussion group to consider the study of teaching large classes, at both primary and secondary levels, to be a worthy object of research and inquiry.

In contexts where not only are class sizes large, but also teaching resources are frequently limited, it is largely the teachers’ instructional practices that provide the main point of access to mathematics for the learners. Thus this discussion group team have been investigating large class pedagogies (and in particular pedagogies which are predominantly teacher-centred) with a view to how such pedagogies bring mathematical objects of learning into being in the classroom space. To this end we have been working with an analytical framework for studying mathematical discourse in instruction, MDI. MDI is characterised by four interacting components in the teaching of a mathematics lesson: exemplification, explanatory talk, learner participation and the object of learning (goal).

Aims of the DG sessions include identifying, sharing and discussing common key issues in teaching and learning in large classes and exploring the potential of the MDI framework to examine such issues. Through sharing cross-national and cross-phase experiences we aimed both to broaden the base of lessons that the framework might be applied to and to explore ways in which the framework might be developed. Through participants sharing experiences and research interests we hope to explore the potential for future collaborations.

Key Questions and Issues

Key questions to discussed included:

  1. (1)

    What are the key issues that need to be researched in teaching large classes?

  2. (2)

    What mathematics do teachers of large classes make available to learn?

  3. (3)

    What is the role of examples and representation in large class teaching?

  4. (4)

    What forms of learner participation are made possible in large classes?

  5. (5)

    How does the quality and nature of teacher explanatory talk vary and how does this variation affect the mathematics made available to learners?

  6. (6)

    How helpful is the framework of Mathematics Discourse of Instruction in study pedagogies of large class teaching?

  7. (7)

    How might the framework be developed?

  8. (8)

    What is the potential for future research and development and cross-national collaborations?