The ideology of relevance in school mathematics

While (or because) the relevance of mathematics is a pedagogical, political and economic issue for both the practicing teacher and the researcher in mathematics education, we lack a sober discussion of the relevance of mathematics in academia. The normative discourse prevailing in mathematics education research is shown to be ideological and ignorant of critical objections. The main focus, however, lies on the perception of the relevance of mathematics by school students. The analysis of interview data shows that, in the discourse of the students, relevance is reduced to learning, skills and mundane applications. This one-dimensional restriction of the discourse does not only result in a lack of options for a more nuanced identification with mathematics, it is also efficient in obscuring other functions of school mathematics.