Scaffolds for teachers’ integration of social justice issues in mathematics education: A pilot study

In this article we report on a pilot study conducted in the Philippines in which the aim was to investigate the scaffolding that mathematics teachers needed to participate in a project in which social justice issues were incorporated in their classroom activities. We collaborated with 2 mathematics teachers at public high schools to implement activities developed by us in which social justice issues were integrated in their mathematics classes. We then interviewed the teachers to gain insight into (1) the teachers’ decisions and actions during the implementation of these activities, and (2) their learners’ experiences and views working on such mathematics activities. Based on an analysis of their interview responses, it was found that both the teachers and learners welcomed the incorporation of social justice themes in their lessons. However, it was also found that teachers required more support to develop their agency in two main areas: (1) crafting contextualised mathematics activities incorporating social justice issues, and (2) creating learning environments that develop learners’ agency to participate effectively in such activities.