“On the learning train”: problematising “the good lesson”

Gray, James, Foyn, Trine, Holmedal, Sigrun and Solomon, Yvette ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2731-8380 (2024) “On the learning train”: problematising “the good lesson”. In: NORMA 24: The Tenth Nordic Conference on Mathematics Education, 4 June 2024 - 7 June 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark. (In Press)

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Abstract

We problematise the interplay between research and practice through a close analysis of a Norwegian primary school lesson which in many ways appears to be a well-executed example of “the good lesson”, a model which is widespread in Norwegian schools. We argue that the research which underpins this model is filtered through mechanisms of New Public Management, reducing its usefulness to a tick-box exercise and thus disempowering the teacher and removing opportunities for responding to students’ contributions. We show how this process diminishes one teacher’s professional agency and results in actions which are not at all conducive to “the good lesson”.