MATHEMATICS, MIND AND OCCUPATIONAL SUBJECTIVITY

Occupational subjectivity is a term that is used to describe the way individuals orient themselves in the world both recreationally and vocationally, that is, how they behave as occupational beings, justify occupational choices and imagine occupational futures. This paper exposes the ways in which the study of mathematics at school is powerfully implicated in occupational subjectivity. A group of upper secondary school children reflect on making choices about whether to continue studying mathematics once it is no longer compulsory, what kinds of mathematics to study when faced with several options, and the place of mathematics in occupation beyond school. The children could be seen to select occupational subject positions in reference to discourses linking self mind and mathematics.