Factors Impacting on Equity in Mathematics Education

Recent Australasian research into the impact of gender, culture and ethnicity, socio-economic status, and rural and remote location on equity in mathematics education is reviewed and critiqued in this chapter. We describe our search methods and synthesise the main research approaches and findings used to explore each of these equity factors and their impacts on mathematics achievement, participation, attitudes, and lived experiences. The variety of methodological approaches used, from small-scale qualitative approaches to large-scale quantitative analyses of existing datasets, are discussed, as are the theoretical frameworks underpinning the work. We identify gaps that persist in these areas of equity-focused research, providing recommendations for future exploration across the equity factors, including the need for additional focus on intersectionality in equity research, more longitudinal studies, increased coverage of participants from the early childhood and tertiary sectors, and more explicit connections of research approaches and findings to theoretical frameworks.