Theory vs. praxis: what [should] mathematics offender-educators know and why it matters?

Source abstract

Several studies indicate that adult offenders’ mathematics performance is dire. Bedeviling scholars has been the question of whether adult offender-educators know andragogical strategies pertinent to teaching mathematics in correctional center classrooms. In this paper, I presented adult mathematics teaching strategies known and to be known by mathematics adult offender-educators. I documented the andragogical strategies, which stand at the intersection of the teaching methodologies known and to be known by mathematics adult offender-educators. This line of inquiry employed the pragmatic epistemological stance, and it was framed within the QUANT-QUAL explanatory sequential mixed-methods research design. I collected quantitative data from fifteen (15) randomly sampled adult offenders and qualitative data from ten (10) purposively sampled mathematics adult offender-educators, respectively. I used data from national standardized mathematics test scores and semi-structured interviews. The findings, inferred from the analysis of data using SPSS and a thematic approach, through the Andragogical theoretical lens, revealed that adult offender-educators theoretically know the learner-centered teaching strategy while they implement the teacher-centered approach. Furthermore, the findings revealed that adult offender-educators have a positive disposition towards translingual mathematics teaching strategies. I concluded by challenging the correctional education policy framework to permeate translanguaging as resourceful learning and instructional language practice. I further gestured towards the need for continued teacher-development, aimed at equipping adult offender-educators with approaches for implementing teaching practices which are in line with the linguistic preferences, andragogic principles, and neuroscientific realities of adult offenders.