A situational study of the meanings of personal excellence for secondary mathematics teachers and students

Abstract

Excellence in education has become the watchword in the past decade. This paper describes aspects of research conducted with two secondary mathematics teachers and seven senior students, which explored their perceptions of mathematics as they have experienced it, and their beliefs about personal excellence in school mathematics. Three categories of excellent students are described as identified by the participants. While the teachers endeavoured to extend the meaning of excellence beyond test achievement alone, the system within which they function largely supports a technical (excellence as marks) conception of education. I argue that this has led teachers and students to a restricted view of the potential for excellence in the secondary mathematics classroom. In particular, it limits the possibility for a strong understanding of personal excellence as an inseparable intellectual and moral journey of ‘becoming’, fostered in the environment of a genuine community of mathematics learners.