New Zealand University Bridging Mathematics Courses: Success for Whom?

This thesis explores the experiences and insights from a group of university bridging students in New Zealand. These were students who failed their first attempt at passing a mathematics course (or paper) on the bridging programme (a pre degree or foundation certificate) and who were invited to repeat the same course the following semester. For some of these students, learning mathematics in school was a longstanding battle, particularly for students with learning challenges or learning disabilities. Further, to enter a university degree programme these students were first required to complete a bridging programme that includes passing at least one bridging mathematics course. Following an interpretivist methodology, I conducted and analysed nine semi structured interviews with seven bridging mathematics students from one university, and four bridging mathematics or statistics teaching teams from two universities. Theories and concepts from the fields of disability studies, particularly disability studies in (mathematics) education were used to help interpret the data. The main findings of the study were: 1) Students described four main influences on their learning journeys and identity formation. The influences included the practices and actions of people such as teachers and parents, high stakes assessments in the last 3 years of high school, the removal of these students from their peer year levels either by retention or streaming, and labelling practices that utilised an ableist discourse. 2) The students created strategies to camouflage their actions in class or masked their struggles within the demands of learning mathematics. 3) Whilst students finally gained university entrance by passing the gateway mathematics course, this in no way guaranteed their future success in degree courses that required mathematics. Understanding these students’ experiences and insights will enable universities to design bridging courses so as not to repeat the experiences that these students endured in their schooling. I argue that with the growth in numbers of previously marginalised students planning to enter universities, institutions need to rethink what success might look like for students entering bridging programmes who desire to then move into degree programmes with quantitative demands in their courses. To enable success in those follow-up programmes, institutions will also need to consider what strategies are in place to support the mathematics that may be required.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mathematics Education

Grantor dc:publisher

ResearchSpace@Auckland

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Kane, Philip J

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Morton, Missy
• Darragh, Lisa

• disability
• bridging
• foundation
• streaming
• retention
• masking

Statement dc:rights

• Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2292/74154

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/74154