Abstract

This paper presents a qualitative study of four Grade 1 and Grade 2 national mathematics curricula coming from francophone countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Canada (Québec), and France. A comparative analysis was performed to identify differences that potentially lead to inequities among the countries. We identified all the concepts present in the Grade 1 and Grade 2 mathematics curriculum using the mathematical literacy framework developed by the OECD through its PISA assessment: quantity, change and relationship, data and uncertainty, and space and shape. Then we looked across countries to find the major differences among them. The findings show three categories of possible inequities among the different curricula: some mathematical concepts are not presented in culturally relevant ways to students, some concepts present in the mathematics curricula are not mathematical concepts, and some important mathematical concepts are not part of the mathematics curricula. Our results show that these inequities appear in all four national curricula analysed here. Those findings highlight the need to question the political inequities among mathematics curricula around the world in order to give a chance for all students to learn strong and meaningful mathematics.