Background

Assuring the capability to participate in vocational trainings and to answer the need for skilled staff are crucial aims of vocational schools. Mathematics is a gatekeeper which hinders many adolescents from succeeding in their (pre-)vocational training, not only in Sweden, The Netherlands and Germany, but in many European countries. This specifically applies for students with low socio-economic and/or immigrant status. Empirical studies show that this achievement gap is a language gap, so innovations for mathematics classrooms in vocational schools must take the language dimension into account. But so far, a huge desideratum lies in appropriate teaching approaches, programs and materials for this integration of mathematics, language and vocational contexts, as well as approaches for professional development for teachers.