Mathematics Learning Trajectories and School Transfer

There is considerable interest in the educational and social challenges faced by young people when transferring between schools, in particular the hiatus in academic progress experienced by many. This book explores how a group of young people in England make this transition and focuses on their learning of mathematics. Mathematics qualifications act as gatekeeper to many educational, employment and life opportunities and this study explores the ways in which school transfer tends to diffract the educational trajectories of socially distanced learners. Employing a case study methodology, including the use of video diaries, four young people are tracked through their final year in primary school and into "the big school". Bourdieus theoretical tools - habitus, field and capital - are used to develop new perspectives on the social complexities of this transition and on the mathematics "learning landscape" more generally. In so doing the book presents a framework for understanding learning trajectories and the roles that peers, parents, schools and society play in producing socially differentiated student outcomes in mathematics.