Background of the project: Assuring the capability to participate in vocational trainings and to answer the need for skilled staff are crucial aims of vocational schools. Mathematics is a gatekeeper which hinders many adolescents from succeeding in their (pre-)vocational training, not only in Sweden, The Netherlands and Germany, but in many European countries. This specifically applies for students with low socio-economic and/or immigrant status. Empirical studies show that this achievement gap is a language gap, so innovations for mathematics classrooms in vocational schools must take the language dimension into account. But so far, a huge desideratum lies in appropriate teaching approaches, programs and materials for this integration of mathematics, language and vocational contexts, as well as approaches for professional development for teachers. Aims of the project: (1) On the classroom level, the project aims at developing a teaching approach and respective teaching units for workplace-related and language-integrated mathematics learning on the mathematical topics fields of percentages, proportional reasoning and functional relationships for vocational classes in the technical and agricultural sector. (2) On the professional development level, the classroom materials will be integrated into PD pro-grams and PD units in order to professionalize mathematics teachers for workplace-related, language-integrated mathematics classrooms. The PD units comprise materials for classrooms, a teacher manual with didactical and pedagogical hints, material for PD activities and selected video clips. (3) On the system level, these programs and units will be integrated in existing PD structures of the regions, states and European countries. Project partners: 9 mathematics education researchers of Technical University Dortmund, University of Utrecht, University of Stockholm, 18 teachers of partner schools and their mathematics classes in the first phase, more teachers in the course of the project and in the phase of broader implementation; KBA Nijmegen and IHK Dortmund for connecting to employers and companies in the regions. Target groups for the use and dissemination: • Young people who are taught on the basis of the newly developed materials for workplace-related and language-integrated mathematics classrooms • Teachers of mathematics in vocational education who are professionalized in workplace-related and language-integrated mathematics classrooms and become facilitators for PDs themselves • Vocational schools who engaged in these developments and carry it also to other subjects • Local authorities and stakeholders in the regions of Dortmund, Utrecht and Stockholm, in the countries and in whole Europe (by the European STEM PD Center Network) for long-term implementation and transfer to other educational systems in Europe Applied Methodologies: The Intellectual Outputs on the classroom level and the professional development level are achieved by the methodology of Design Research. This methodology combines the iterative development of teaching-learning-arrangements (for students or for teachers) with the study of their functioning in design experiments which allows insights informing the re-design. The work on the system level applies the methodology of transdisciplinary networking. The short description of the long-term expectations and positive effects of the project: From the group of students who participate in the project, we expect the positive results in their qualifications of the mathematics area and later on at their occupational future work. The group of the teachers who also participate in the project will be professionalized in workplace-related and language-integrated mathematics and they will be multiplikators/facilitator. The school management will be initiating and implimenting the conception of the language learning at the teaching subject (working-placed related) mathematic. Furthermore, the concept will be transferred to the other teaching subjects. The Stakeholders will be promoting all goals of the project. They will have the influence on the foregoing practical education.
Context and background of the project: Ensuring the readiness and prevelance for qualified labour is one of the main tasks of vocational education system. However, many adolescents fail in mathematics, not only in Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany, especially those with educationally disadvantaged backgrounds or immigrant background. Among all disadvantaging background factors, language proficiency is most closely related to mathematics achievement, that is why mathematics instruction for vocational contexts should be designed in language-responsive ways. However, up to now, there has been a lack of available approaches and curriculum materials for classrooms and professional development (PD). Project goals: (1) The central aim on the classroom level was to develop work-related language-responsive instructional approaches for mathematics teaching in vocational preparation classes in the industrial-technical and agricultural sectors, for example regarding "proportional thinking", "percentages" and "diagrams and graphs". To this end, existing subject- and language-integrated approaches from the partner countries were connected and particularly adapted for specific vocational contexts. A criteria-led catalogue of authentic professional communication situations and vocational discourse practices was compiled for the relevant professional fields. (2) At the PD level, the developed classroom materials were integrated into modules for professional development which qualify mathematics teachers of vocational preparation classes for language-responsive mathematics teaching. The PD modules comprise PD materials, manuals for pedagogies, PD activities and selected video clips from classrooms to be discussed. 3) In the long run, the results will be implemented in the educational system and PD system in cooperation with regional authorities, states and countries of Europe. Number and profile of participants: 9 mathematics education researchers from TU Dortmund University, Utrecht University, Stockholm University, PH Freiburg;18 mathematics teachers from partner schools in the core team and their classes, other teachers and PD multipliers from the region; KBA Nijmegen and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Dortmund as stakeholders of the employers. Target groups for the dissemination and use of the results and products • Young people who profited from newly developed instructional approaches and materials, • Teachers who have been systematically professionalised for language-responsive mathematics teaching in vocational contexts and who have been trained as PD multipliers. • Vocational schools and their school administrators who see this project as a prelude to sustainably integrate the language-responsive approaches in the regular subject matter classrooms. • Cooperating stakeholders (excerpt exemplary for Germany): The QUA-LiS NRW (Quality and Support Agency of the State of NRW) and the DLZM (German Centre for Teacher Education Mathematics), who disseminate the concepts and materials in teacher training courses. Description of the project and dissemination activities The dissemination took the form of oral and written presentations, workshops, handouts, a project homepage, articles, teacher training and diverse multiplier events. Furthermore, a project handbook for multipliers was produced. Activities in the project: Iterative development and evaluation of teaching units, iterative development and evaluation of PD modules, extensive testing of the teaching units in classrooms and the PD modules in PD courses, preparation of a project handbook, project coordination, the project homepage, 3 partner meetings, 4 specialist group work meetings, evaluation at system level, consultation with cooperation partners (associated project partners). Methods of project implementation: The generation of intellectual outputs at the classroom and PD level was pursued within the framework of the Design Research methodology. In this methodology, the iterative development of teaching-learning arrangements is combined with testing them in design experiments and qualitative analysis. The work at the system level pursues strategies of transdisciplinary networking. Brief description of the results and effects achieved as well as longer-term benefits: The participation of adolescents in the project has had a substantial positive impact on their mathematical competence and employability. The teachers participating in the project have been systematically professionalised for language-responsive mathematics teaching in vocational contexts and are already active as multipliers for PD and other areas. Schools and school administrations initiate the integration of the developed approaches into the everyday teaching. The professional development of teachers will be continued, e.g. by the district government of Arnsberg, even after the end of the project, and the participating universities will introduce the approaches in preservice and inservice teacher education. Stakeholders will disseminate the project results in a network. In this way, they will influence current teaching practice.