Laura Black

My research interests focus on inequalities and social justice in education, especially in relation to mathematics inside and outside of school. I am particularly interested in Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), conceptualisations of identity as mediated by pedagogic practice(s), the production of capital exchange (using Bourdieu) and the use and exchange value attached to mathematics.  Whilst these concepts may seem to focus on students’ experiences of alienation from  ‘schoolified’ mathematics, they also help us to see possibilities or developmental potential through activism and social movements that help to redefine the relationship between schools and communities. In this respect, I have utilised (and critiqued) the ‘Funds of Knowledge’ approach which aims to challenge deficit assumptions by building curriculum projects using the rich resources in the homes and communities of students and their families. Recently, I have joined the Very Local Maths project which aims to work with local youth groups to co-create projects that fuse art and mathematics, developing the idea of a community mathematician (for more information, see below).  

Selected projects I am either currently involved in or have been in the past include:

The Very Local Maths project

Project title: Exploring and enacting 'Very Local' cultures of mathematics

University of Manchester Research Interdisciplinary (UMRI) fund (£50k)

PI - Laura Black, Co-I's Kate O'Brien, Keisha Thompson, Alejandra Vincente-Comenjares, Edda Sant, PDRAs - Charlotte Megrourche, Sky Herrington

We are interested in finding new ways to transform the culture of mathematics in schools by working from the ‘outside’. Inspired by the British community arts movement, which was similarly critical of 1960s art schools for their detachment from people’s everyday concerns, our project will explore the speculative concept of the ‘community mathematician.’ Drawing on key tenets and methods from community arts practice and youth work (Matarasso, 2018), this project explores affective and aesthetic approaches to mathematical knowing (Sinclair, 2018; de Freitas et al. 2019) through three interlinked strands of methodological innovation. First, we will be working with a team of youth researchers to investigate ‘very local’ mathematical practices and inquire about the concept of ‘community mathematics.’ Second, we will document and research two artist-mathematician collaborations which fuse contemporary mathematical research with artistic engagements with materials, bodies, and social praxis. These collaborations will produce ‘making-maths events,’ which will be trialled by our youth researchers. Third, we aim to develop a wider network of UK-based collaborators through a ‘festival review’ that will map and analyse regional, national, and international cultural spaces for mathematics. For more information please visit www.verylocalmaths.org.uk

The Nonbinary Mathematics Project

Researching Young Children’s Mathematical Identities: Dispositions, ‘funds of knowledge’ and pedagogic practices

Faculty of Humanities Strategic Investment Fund (£15k)

PI - Laura Black, Co-I's - Sophina Choudry, Kelly Pickard Smith

This project involved researching how young children (aged 5 to 6 years) express mathematical identifications and how such expressions are mediated by their class position and the nature of the home-school relationship. We were interested in the contradictions and alignment between embedded ‘home’ mathematics and the formal school curriculum and how such relationships are manifest in young children’s emotional expressions about maths. We asked children to take photographs of the mathematics they could see in their homes and communities and then we spoke to them about the mathematics in those spaces and how this compared to school mathematics. See this short animation. 

Research on mathematical identities in Post 16 and Higher Education

I worked on two major ESRC funded ‘Transmaths’ projects which looked at young people’s developing identities in relation to mathematics and STEM subjects at post 16 and as they transition into university (see www.transmaths.org ). This work has primarily focused on narrative analysis of interviews with adolescents and has looked at how engagement with mathematics is linked to future aspirations (a leading identity). Please visit www.transmaths.org for more information on our publications and briefing reports for policy and practitioners. 

I was also involved in planning the ESRC seminar series on Mathematical Relationships: Identities and Participation, which led to the publication of an edited collection under the same title.

 Pedagogy as a site for the (re-production) of inequality in education

I have a long term interest in the role pedagogic practices play in the (re)production of educational inequalities. My doctoral research focused on classroom discourse as a site for inequality and I have published four papers/chapters on this topic. I have also recently co-authored a chapter which looks at how children are positioned through classroom discourse and how this mediates their access to capital in the primary mathematics classroom. 

My previous doctoral students have undertaken research on mathematics education focusing on issues of gender, class and ethnicity and also pedagogy in both primary classrooms and in higher education. Several have also taken a particular interest in working with disadvantaged communities to explore issues of access and participation in schooling/education. 

I am interested in supervising students in any of these areas, but in line with my research interests above, I welcome applicants who wish to look at home-school relationships in disadvantaged communities, particularly across the transition into formal schooling.

PhDs In Progress:

Kenna, Abate. Mathematics education and technology. 

Herbert, Jonathan. A narrative exploration of the impact of widespread internet access and ICT provision on educational attainment in white British boys from deprived areas of the UK.

Phillips, Rebecca. Literacy across domains: How children growing up in multilingual families engage with home, school and community literacy practices and the questions this raises for educators. 

Jahnagiri, Nooshin. An exploration of female studentschoice and experience of studying undergraduate mathematics and engineering programmes in Iran. 

PhD Completed:

Starkey, Rachel. PhD. Privileging entry to higher education: When capital counts. 

Alanazi, Mansour. PhD. AN INVESTIGATION OF DEVELOPING TEACHERS' UNDERSTANDING OF USING DIALOGIC APPROACH IN SAUDI PRIMARY MATHEMATICS CLASSROOMS:

Radovic, Darinka. PhD. Gender and Mathematics Education in Chile, 

Choudry, Sophina. PhD. Mathematics capital in the classroom and wider educational field: intersections of ethnicity, gender, and social class

White, Danielle. PhD. How are the career related decisions of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds shaped during their transition towards the end of compulsory schooling? 

Rhamani Sangani, Hamid.   PhD. Developing Reflective Practice through Collaborative Dialogue in an Iranian Context, 

Chatranoth, Phnita. PhD. The Impact of Teacher Corrective Feedback on Students’ Grammatical Accuracy: A Case Study in Thailand,