Summary:
In 2000 Lerman speaks about the social turn in Mathematics Education which he
defines as the “ the emergence into the mathematics education research
community of theories that see [mathematical] meaning, thinking and reasoning
as products of social activity». Ever since, the concept of “social” is no
longer understood as the mere interaction among cognitive objects or the
development of “social” research perspectives in the framework of humanistic or
democratic views. New views appear, most importantly the poststructural and
psychoanalytical –mainly lacanian- that converse with the critical current that
already had identified the issue of equity and antiracism in mathematics
education. The research now is being identified as an inherently political
research, since it is called to look into and deconstruct the physicalized
truths found across the mathematics education spectrum, analyze the dominant
practices that construct myths and collective phantasies, and work on new
interpretations in an attempt to assign new meanings to things. Furthermore,
the political nature of this research is connected to its performative
function: its findings define the social practices that are linked to
mathematics education, while at the same time they exclude other possibilities.
The present paper focuses on issues constituting the profile of the
sociopolitical trend of thought that can now be clearly identified in the
framework of Mathematics Education. The critical alternative concept of
mathematics education is based on a general perception of the education space
not as a field where merely knowledge is transmitted but most importantly as a
field where children, adolescences and adults are governed. The student does
not just “listen” nor does she just participate in educational activities but
she mainly performs. This means that she repeats and continues to repeat rules
and rituals that teach her –along with mathematics- of ways to think and
behave, to interpret things and understand the world. In this framework
classifications and categories concerning teachers and students, and undeniable
“truths” concerning ability, intelligence, excellence and school “success” are
being reexamined. And it should be noted that this reexamination does not
exclude the “importance” of mathematics and their position in the curriculum.
Simultaneously, there is an intense focus on the effects of neoliberal
educational reforms that reduce knowledge to a corporate logic and transform
education into a commodity. At a time when metrics and comparisons are turned
into important political tools of governing, mathematics are called to play an
important role. The sociopolitical trend in the teaching of mathematics brings
into play the contemporary views in order to construct new research
methodologies and highlight alternative interpretations and meanings.
Keywords:
Poststructural , Governementality , Performative function , Mathematics Education Research , Sociopolitical-turn
