Facilitating Inclusive Practices in Mathematics Education for All Learners The Cross-Country Invariance Properties of a Survey Instrument Designed to Measure Students’ Valuing in Mathematics Learning
Inclusive education is now a global imperative driven by social and political dynam- ics. Yet realising this imperative for all students in mathematics education is difficult. The struggle of providing high quality inclusive mathematics education that meets the needs of all learners – including gifted, talented, creative and dissimilar learners – is one element of this challenge. A key component of inclusivity for these learners is the value they place upon their learning. This chapter explores the use of the previ- ously developed What do I Find Important in Mathematics (WIFI) survey instrument to examine the measurement invariance of the instrument across learners in eight Countries/Economies: Ηong Kοng, Greece, Japan, Μacao, China, Μalaysia, Thailand and Turkey. Using a parallel analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) the good fit of the configural invariance as well as the metric invariance of the six-factor model was confirmed. Four of the factors: achievement, practice, ICT and development, showed satisfactory psychometric properties and the partial scalar invariance model showed a satisfactory fit. One-way ANOVA and pairwise comparisons tests were also conducted, showing that there was a certain degree of heterogeneity on how learners in the eight Countries/Economies view mathematics values. These results provide effective and valid identification of learners’ values about learning mathematics across the eight Countries/Economies and have implications for the teaching of mathematics to pro- vide inclusivity for learners, especially the gifted, talented learners, creative and dis- similar learners.
History
Start page
223
End page
249
Total pages
27
Outlet
Educating Gifted, Talented, Creative and Dissimilar Learners: Imagining the future