ABSTRACT
The equity teacher is more likely to adopt a teaching practice whereby the background knowledge of the students becomes the centre of the curriculum, and learning experiences are based around those experiences so that learning is built from there. The school curriculum will be adjusted to suit the needs of the students, but with every expectation that the students will learn—that is, the curriculum will not be watered down. In viewing the mathematics curriculum as a construction of social knowledge, social models of difference see the curriculum as representing some knowledges and excluding others. More subtle differences emerge when other aspects of mathematics teaching are considered. When a teacher becomes aware of differences in knowledges and how these relate to school mathematics, there is a significant opportunity to adjust practice in ways that can allow students from diverse backgrounds to come to learn and understand mathematics.
