Students’ beliefs about mathematics in schools located in different socioeconomic areas

Over the past few years there have been significant academic and public concerns regarding Swedish students’ performances in mathematics, not least concerning the relationship between students’ performance and their socioeconomic background. Previously, students from different family backgrounds had a very similar performance in mathematics, but there has been a decrease in the level of equality(Skolverket, 2009). The purpose of this study was to contribute with knowledge about how students in grade 5 (10-11-years-old) in schools in different socioeconomic areas perceive mathematics in school.Schools were selected from different socioeconomic areas, 20 different schools (40 teaching groups), and data from 1,029 students were utilised in this study.Results show that there is a lack of equity in mathematics teaching in Sweden. Students in different socioeconomic areas perceive mathematics teaching in different ways and thereby construct different filters that regulate thinking and actions in mathematics-related situations. Students from schools in high socioeconomic (HSES) areas have a relational vision of mathematics, where teachers focus on reasoning ability significantly more than students from schools in low socioeconomic areas (LSES), who have an instrumental vision of mathematics, where teachers focus on procedures. Thus, the result in this study gives evidence for different affordances in mathematics for students in schools located in different socioeconomic areas