Dr. Sam Stewart
This paper builds on global maths curriculum research which shows that using an Ethnomathematical approach to teach pupils can be very effective when situating the subject culturally. Although this is a key area for development and practice in regions of the world such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Asia, North America and Oceania, it is currently limited in Europe and in the UK in particular. This paper is positioned as an early career researcher interested in basing potential empirical exploration of a culturally responsive pedagogy in examination Maths classes when teaching Shape and Space, an area for development, annually identified by Chief Examiner GCSE Reports within the subject, PISA and TIMSS data (Elvas Fernández & Ramírez Uclés, 2025; Farran, 2025; Mária Kmetová and Rumanová, 2024). The research will build on the theories and academic findings of Urbitan D’Ambrosio (2001), Ariesta Kartika Sari, Mega Teguh Budiarto and Rooselyna Ekawati (2022), Renuka Vithal, and Ole Skovsmose (1997), Alexandre Pais (2010), Athena Ross and Casey Wells (2025), and Marjorie Batiibwe (2024, 2025). This will provide an excellent foundation for planning a qualitative and quantitative, culturally situated and informed methods, using socially enacted research into this approach within a European community, secondary school context, with the ultimate aim of guiding curriculum development in maths to increase scores in Shape and Space in the foreseeable future.
