The relationship between music and mathematics has often been the subject of discussion, both inside and outside the field of education. As part of an exciting project on a European scale, the paper explores the changing contexts in Catalonia (Spain) and England (UK) in relation to the integrated approach to the teaching of music and mathematics. We analyse three areas: academic literature, the curriculum frameworks and publications and resources prepared by and for teachers. Our findings suggest that due to the more favourable attitude towards cross-curricular approaches in education, more progress has been made in England, in terms of developing resources to support an integrated approach to the teaching of music and mathematics, than in Catalonia. Nonetheless, teachers in both locations are very interested in developing these approaches. Although there is a need for further teacher training and support, there is evidence of progress already being made in schools.

This paper discusses a longitudinal study with children with Apert syndrome aged between 4 and 11 years. There has long been an interest in the role of fingers in the development of early number skills and arithmetic. As children with Apert syndrome are born with complex fusions of their fingers, they have to undergo several surgical procedures in order to obtain individuated fingers. This has implications for their finger mobility and finger awareness. It has been suggested that children with Apert syndrome have specific difficulties with early number and arithmetic activities. The findings from this study suggest that engaging children with Apert syndrome in activities that develop finger awareness (finger gnosis) and finger mobility (fine motor skills) may have a positive impact on their ability to engage with appropriate mathematics curricula at school. This is relevant to all those involved in the care of children with Apert syndrome and will be of particular relevance to those involved in early childhood and primary education. This study also provides new insights into the role of finger use in the development of skills and understanding in early number and arithmetic.

There is very little research on cognitive outcomes and challenges for children with Apert syndrome. This paper describes the findings of a 2½-year longitudinal exploration of the development of arithmetic skills in 10 children with Apert syndrome, who were aged between 4 and 9 years at the beginning of the study. There is evidence to suggest that children with Apert syndrome underachieve in mathematics, especially in areas requiring competence and confidence arithmetic. This study explored the changing strategies the children used as they developed their arithmetic problem solving skills. Of particular interest were the roles of finger gnosis and finger mobility in supporting the development of these skills. A case study approach was adopted in order to explore the children's problem solving strategies in depth. Children with Apert syndrome are born with their fingers fused and undergo several operations with the aim of ensuring that they have as many functioning fingers as possible. Finger gnosis and finger mobility were both seen to support arithmetic problem solving strategies and skills and reduce the reliance on mental strategies alone. This study found that children with Apert syndrome are disadvantaged if they are not supported to develop their finger gnosis and finger mobility skills. The findings have implications for children with Apert syndrome, but also add to the literature on the role of finger gnosis and finger mobility in the development of skills in early number and arithmetic.

In this article, we report on findings from the Primary Maths and Social Justice research project, a recent collaboration between the three authors and six teacher researchers from two culturally diverse primary schools in London, UK. The project aimed to develop strategies for addressing issues of social justice in the mathematics classroom, and operationalising the recently developed theoretical concept of socio-mathematical agency, defined as learners’ capacity to apply mathematics in arguing collectively for social change. The teacher researchers’ experiences, as captured through audio recordings of research team meetings and interviews, form the basis of our data analysis. Our findings highlight the processes that enabled teachers to reflect critically on existing practice, prompting them to adopt more collaborative, discursive and inclusive problem-solving approaches that resulted in significantly higher levels of student engagement in mathematical activities. The teacher researchers found that cross-curricular projects provided more opportunities to apply mathematical knowledge in tackling social justice issues than the prescriptive and content-focused mastery-style mathematics schemes of work in place. They reported how students embraced opportunities to use mathematics in more meaningful contexts and in presenting arguments for change. We argue that a focus on developing socio-mathematical agency has the potential to enhance the role of teachers and learners as agents of change, an important element that is often underdeveloped in culturally responsive teaching.

This paper focuses on the enablers and constraints that shape mathematics teacher educators' agency in addressing social justice issues within their practice and how these can be harnessed or overcome. Given the potential impact of teacher educators on the student/practising teachers they work with, and consequently on the agency of classroom teachers in teaching for social justice, this is an important area that warrants further research. We adopted a participatory action research methodology in establishing a team of 15 ‘teacher educators’ (broadly defined) working in universities and other settings across England and Scotland. We drew on a theoretical framework based on critical pedagogy and critical mathematics education. Research team meetings focused on designing and evaluating teaching strategies and professional development workshops, which were tried out with student teachers and practising teachers. Data were collected from group discussions in which teacher educators reflected on constraints and opportunities within their own practice. The findings showed that key constraints faced by teacher educators include the dominant discourses and narratives encountered by teachers of mathematics they work with, often generating conflict between aspirations to adopt critical pedagogies and pressures to align themselves with prescriptive and disempowering pedagogies common in schools. Enablers included the collaborative and supportive nature of the research team, which provided teacher educators with space and time to interrogate their own practice, to raise their critical consciousness and to develop confidence to advocate for, and promote, socially just teaching approaches.