How vocational students can get more out of maths outside the classroom

“The world outside the classroom needs to be more closely linked to maths teaching in schools,” says Anders E. Wiik, a researcher at the University of Agder (UiA).

At the top of his wish list is more everyday maths in schools.

He wants to supplement maths lessons with weather forecasts, food budgets, and mortgage interest rates.

He also wants vocational students in upper secondary school to receive more maths tuition at their work placement sites.

Trude Sundtjønn, a researcher at OsloMet, agrees.

“Whether you’re training to be a hairdresser or a car mechanic, you’ve chosen a practical profession. Your training should therefore be linked to the tasks carried out in the hairdressing salon or car workshop. This ensures that the teaching closely mirrors the practical day-to-day work the student will eventually be doing,” says Sundtjønn.

Students are motivated when teaching is linked to vocational subjects

Through her research, she has seen how vocational students thrive when they are given the opportunity to apply their professional skills in the classroom.

Swedish researchers Karolina Muhrman and Peter Frejd from Linköping University found similar results. In one study, they followed around 2,000 pupils over four years.

Along the way, they investigated different ways of organising teaching. They tested teaching models in several rounds.

The researchers interviewed the pupils before and after new teaching programmes and again towards the end of their education.

“One key finding is clear: the more closely maths teaching is linked to their future careers, the higher the pupils’ motivation,” says Muhrman.

Collaboration between teachers yields the best results

The teaching approach that worked best was when the vocational teacher and the maths teacher collaborated on lessons in the workshop or vocational classroom.

“Here, pupils receive teaching linked to the course they have chosen. For example, when they work on calculating material consumption, costs or technical parameters in real-life situations,” says Frejd.

Students who have taken part in this type of teaching find that maths is meaningful.

"They find maths more motivating to learn, and they perform at least as well in traditional tests as other pupils,” says Murhman.

“It also shows that it’s not about lowering the standards for maths teaching, but about changing the way it’s taught,” says Frejd.

Maths is used in all professions

“Mathematics is used in many professions, but this isn’t always made clear in the classroom,” says Wiik.

A baker, for example, has to convert recipes and set prices. A lorry driver has to calculate journey times and secure the load.

An electrician works with voltage, current, and power. A construction worker calculates material requirements. And farmers plan fertilisation and harvests.

“Highlighting and linking this type of maths to school maths is crucial for pupils to understand what they are doing and why they are doing it,” says Wiik.

Until now, research has mainly focused on teaching methods for primary school and the academic stream in upper secondary school.

"But this is beginning to change. In recent years, politicians from several parties have encouraged young people to choose vocational education. Now young people are doing just that, and so we will also see more research in this area,” says Wiik.

References:

Frejd, P. & Muhrman, K. Is the mathematics classroom a suitable learning space for making workplace mathematics visible? – An analysis of a subject integrated team-teaching approach applied in different learning spaces, Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 2019. DOI: 10.1080/13636820.2020.1760337

Muhrman, K. & Frejd, P. Subject integrated team teaching vs. textbook learning: A comparative study on students’ experiences in vocational mathematics education, Proceedings of the Fourteenth Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME14), 2025.

Sundtjønn, T. Complexities when students authenticate aspects of a task in vocational mathematics education, Proceedings of the Fourteenth Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME14), 2025.

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Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no

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