Introduction

Abstract

The issue of equity remains one of the most difficult and persistent problematics in the theory and practice of mathematics education. In the broadest sense, equity encompasses matters involving regimes of inclusions and exclusions that both enable and constrain the lived conditions—by gender, cultural identity, and diversity—of individuals in complex societies. Undoubtedly, this is why the presumption of access is foregrounded by Bishop and Forgasz () in their synthesis of research on equity in mathematics education. They claimed that “without access to mathematics education there can be no equity” (p. 1146). This view offers a powerful counterdiscourse to inequity which, as a concept, is represented by marked (negative) differences in outcomes among groups within a given context or setting. Inequities are manifest in educational situations that involve achievement, enrolment, and attitudes. While differential outcomes implicitly convey inequity of some kind, they are distinguished from diversity, a concept that relates to the complex of interacting ways in which groups of individuals are identified and categorized. In this book, diversity encompasses: gender; race, ethnicity and culture; nationality and language background; socioeconomic status; exceptionality; and physical and learning disabilities.