Paul has a wide range of research interests. He is particularly interested in exploring ways in which mathematics can be taught more effectively to learners of all ages, and current projects include foci on problem solving, linear equations and foundational number sense. He continues to be interested in how mathematics teaching varies cross-culturally and the influence of participants’ beliefs on classroom activity and learner achievement. For a number of years he has been concerned about and seeks evidence to support a challenge to the hegemony of the OECD’s PISA project, which, he argues, has a disproportionate and largely unwarranted impact on the cultural uniqueness of a country’s educational ambitions.

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Opportunities to learn foundational number sense in three Swedish year one textbooks

  2019. Judy Sayers (et al.). International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology

  Article

  In this paper we present statistical analyses of three textbooks used by Swedish teachers to support year one children's learning of mathematics. One, Eldorado, is authored by Swedish teachers, another, Favorit, is a Swedish adaptation of a popular Finnish series and the third, Singma, is a Swedish adaptation of a Singapore series. Data were coded against the eight categories of foundational number sense, which are the number-related competences literature has shown to be essential for the later mathematical success of year one learners. Two analyses were undertaken; the first was a frequency analysis of the tasks coded for a particular category, the second was a time-series analysis highlighting the temporal location of such opportunities. The frequency analyses identified statistically significant differences with respect to children's opportunities to acquire foundational number sense. Additionally, the time series showed substantial differences in the ways in which such tasks were located in the structure of the textbooks. Such differences, we argue, offer substantial didactical challenges to teachers trying to adapt their practices to the expectations of such imports.

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• Teachers' perspectives on homework

  2020. Judy Sayers (et al.). Educational review (Birmingham)

  Article

  This paper presents an exploratory study of English and Swedish teachers' perspectives on the role of homework in year-one children's learning of number. In order to ensure cultural integrity, data were analysed independently by two colleagues in each context. Analyses yielded three broad but cross-culturally common themes reflecting culturally situated notions of common sense. These concerned the existence of homework, the purpose of homework and the role of parents in homework's completion. While homework was unproblematic for all English teachers, half the Swedish cohort spoke against it, arguing that variation in home background would compromise principles of equity. All teachers who set homework, whether English or Swedish, spoke of homework as a means of supporting children at risk of falling behind their peers, a process by which children practice routine skills. English teachers' homework-related justifications were located in a discourse of target setting that was invisible in the Swedish.

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• Two novel approaches to the content analysis of school mathematics textbooks

  2020. Jöran Petersson (et al.). International Journal of Research and Method in Education

  Article

  The analysis of the content of school textbooks, particularly in a time of cross-cultural borrowing, is a growing field restricted by the tools currently available. In this paper, drawing on the analyses of three English year-one mathematics textbooks, we show how two approaches to the analysis of sequential data not only supplement conventional frequency analyses but highlight trends in the content of such textbooks hidden from frequency analyses alone. The first, moving averages, is conventionally used in science to eliminate noise and demonstrate trends in data. The second, Lorenz curves, is typically found in the social sciences to compare different forms of social phenomena. Both, as we show, extend the range of questions that can be meaningfully asked of textbooks. Finally, we speculate as to how both approaches can be used with other forms of ordered classroom data.

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• Estimation in the Mathematics Curricula of Denmark, Norway and Sweden

  2021. Pernille Bødtker Sunde (et al.). Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research

  Article

  Acknowledging evidence that the ability to estimate has major consequences for both later mathematics learning and real-world functionality, this paper examines the national mathematics curriculum for compulsory school for each of Denmark, Norway and Sweden for the estimation-related opportunities it offers children. Framed against four conceptually and procedurally different forms of estimation (computational, measurement, quantity and number line), each of which is implicated differently in the later learning of mathematics, analyses indicated that none of the four forms of estimation were addressed explicitly in the Norwegian curriculum. Expectations of computational and measurement estimation were present in both the Danish and the Swedish curricula, although neither referred to either quantity or number line estimation. Even when estimation-related learning outcomes were articulated, there was no evidence of the processes by which they might be realised. Finally, there were no acknowledgements that estimation may contribute to the learning of other mathematical topics.

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• English and Swedish teachers’ perspectives on the role of parents in year one children’s learning of number: manifestations of culturally-conditioned norms

  2021. Judy Sayers (et al.). Early Child Development and Care 191 (5), 760-772

  Article

  This paper presents an exploratory study of English and Swedish teachers' perspectives on the role of parents in year one children's learning of number. Drawing on the results of semi-structured interviews, data from each cohort were analysed independently to ensure the cultural integrity of any response categories and the results of this process compared. Two broad themes were identified concerning implicit and explicit forms of parental involvement. The former, manifested similarly across the two cohorts, concerned the importance of parents presenting children with positive attitudes towards mathematics. The latter, incorporating three comparable subthemes, focused on the creation of number-rich home environments, home–school communication and parents' role in the completion of homework. All three subthemes differentiated the cohorts in ways that highlighted teachers' culturally situated perspective on teaching and learning. Some implications are discussed, particularly with respect to the challenge this study poses for developers of cross-cultural survey instruments.

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Show all publications by Paul Robert Andrews at Stockholm University