"Just by aiming for the middle": a study of year 9 mathematics schemes

Abstract

There has been little research into either the writing process for, or content of, mathematics programme plans (schemes of work). Schemes ideally provide a template for the teacher to follow throughout an academic year, giving guidance on topics, level of presentation and examples of suitable tasks for learning and assessment. Each school is responsible for their own schemes which are also part of the school's accountability process. This study examines the production and content of such schemes at the year 9 level of schooling in a sample of fifteen New Zealand provincial city, state secondary schools. Both collaborative and individual approaches were used for scheme writing, and schemes were written from starting points such as previous schemes and Mathematics in the New Zealand Curriculum. Similar components were found in many of the schemes. Although Heads of Department reported their awareness of some subject inter-connectivities, no use of these was apparent within the schemes. Little information about year 8 programmes, texts used or assessment from contributing schools was found to be used in scheme writing by the study schools. Half of the schools that had access to Learning Media resources when scheme writing reported making use of them. The timing of distribution of these publications led to one third of the study schools lacking access to them when they were preparing their schemes. All study schemes were based largely on level 4 of Mathematics in the New Zealand Curriculum. The coverage of the Achievement Objectives in the Mathematical Processes strand varied both in the ways in which they were incorporated and in terms of breadth and depth of coverage. Coverage of these Achievement Objectives was generally found to be light and unsystematic. Most study schemes incorporated few identifiable references to calculator and computer use and few references to use of bicultural perspectives.