Complexities when students authenticate aspects of a task in vocational mathematics education

Overview & Synopsis

In this paper I study how students in vocational mathematics education can interact with paper-based mathematics tasks with a vocational context. I used the verb "to authenticate" when students (1) recognized that an aspect in a task really existed out-of-school and ( 2) gave a convincing argument for this. The data is from a mathematics class for Technical and Industrial Production students that worked on a task related to the volume of engine cylinders. I found that students could authenticate several vocational aspects in the task, such as the real-world context, the question/assignment, the illustration, the data, and the purpose. The authentication process consisted of referring to a vocational origin and showing expertise by describing details not given in the task. The results indicate that when students in vocational mathematics education are given space to use their out-ofschool expertise, their vocational identities can raise their motivation to engage with mathematics.