Abstract:

Dealing with diversity is generally considered a key challenge in the debate on educational equity and thus also for the realisation of inclusive education (Ainscow, 2016) and, consequently, for the design of subject-specific learning in schools. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities stipulates that, with regard to school inclusion, all pupils must be granted access to high-quality educational content (United Nations, 2006). This applies to all subject teaching and thus also to mathematics teaching. Current school assessment studies – such as the TIMSS 2023 or the OECD report 2023 – indicate that the aspiration for inclusive, diversity-conscious teaching and learning of mathematics has yet to be adequately realised (von Davier et al., 2024; OECD, 2023). However, these studies offer no insight into everyday classroom practice. In particular, it remains unclear to what extent differences and discrimination are (re)produced in mathematics teaching and how this affects pupils' subject-specific learning processes.

From an interactionist perspective subject-specific learning and on mathematics learning in particular, learning is understood to develop through reciprocal processes of meaning-making in social interactions (Jung & Schütte, 2018; Jung et al., 2022).

In inclusive mathematics teaching, teachers are therefore faced with a threefold challenge: first, creating opportunities for all pupils to actively participate in high-quality subject-specific negotiation processes and, second, adjusting these processes as individually as possible to the learning needs of each individual; and third, consciously engaging the diverse differences among students (Hummel & Bohlmann, 2022; Stinken-Rösner & Hofer, 2021). These three requirements are interrelated (see Jung et al., in press; Viermann et al., in press a & b).

This article presents initial findings from the research project Diversity-Conscious Teaching and Learning of Mathematics. Drawing on a social-reconstructive research design, the project examines how teachers deal with these requirements when promoting difference-conscious mathematics learning in primary schools. The guiding research questions are:
- How are pupils with special educational needs supported in terms of subject specific-learning in inclusive mathematics?
- What significance do constructions of difference hold for the subject-specific support of pupils with special educational needs in inclusive mathematics?

To adress the research questions, one-to-one support interactions between pupils with special educational needs and either special education or primary school teachers in inclusive mathematics lessons are analysed by means of interaction analysis (Böckmann & Tewes, 2023; Krummheuer & Brandt, 2001).

Initial findings indicate that special education and primary school teachers sometimes attribute only limited mathematical learning abilities to pupils with special educational needs and, accordingly afford them only restricted opportunities to develop their mathematical competencies (Viermann et al. in press, a & b; Viermann & Schütte, 2025). This is reflected in the tutoring situations, e. g., in the highly incremental structuring of interactions, a superficial engagement with the subject matter, and a deficit-orientated approach towards the pupils (Viermann & Schütte, 2025).

Keywords:

Inclusion, Diversity, Mathematics Education, Primary School.