Math and Maths: Diversifying U.S. Math Instruction with Work-Integrated Learning Through Inclusive Math Pedagogies from England and Spain

For the last twenty years, I have taught elementary math in an inclusive classroom in a high-performing school district in the northeast of the United States. Over that period of time, the composition of the students sitting in my classroom has become increasingly diverse. Wanting to better meet the needs of those students, I embarked on a sabbatical research project aimed at improving my cultural competency and expanding my pedagogical toolbox. This project allowed me to visit England and Spain during the 2022–2023 school year to see how math (and maths) is taught. While on this journey, I discovered firsthand how Work-integrated Learning (WIL) theory informs my own learning and teaching, and how it applies equally to students everywhere, as well. This chapter describes my visit to several schools in England and Spain to better understand good math practices in diverse contexts so that I could share my discoveries back home. This chapter further explores the similarities and differences between elementary schools in England, Spain, and the United States with an emphasis on math. Specific to the math lessons are issues of curriculum, organization, structure, and delivery of lessons. In order to get a better understanding of the way schools operate in England and Spain, I visited several from elementary to university level. While there I took ethnographic notes of the experience. The questions I was seeking answers to are the following: How are lessons delivered? What tools, technologies, strategies, etc. are being used? What curriculum program was being used? What commonalities exist between English, Spanish and North American math pedagogy? How are learning differences addressed in the math classroom? What practices, strategies, tools, systems, etc. would be beneficial to our students in the US? My visits revealed an interesting comparison between English, Spanish, and North American schools and curriculum. My experience speaks to the power of and the need for more intentional international exchanges and continued conversations around learning in general and math in particular.