Skip to main content
Carla Finesilver

Dr Carla Finesilver

Senior Lecturer in Mathematics Education and Inclusion

Research interests

  • Education
  • Mathematics

Biography

Dr Carla Finesilver works mainly in the areas of mathematics education and inclusion, with a particular interest in the intersection of these two fields – inclusive mathematics education. Through both her research and teaching, she aims to make mathematics, STEM subjects, and education in general more inclusive, accessible and relevant for diverse learners.

Prior to her academic career, Carla spent 10 years as a classroom teacher at various secondary schools in London, including as Head of Mathematics (and one of the founding staff) of a specialist school for students with Specific Learning Difficulties. She has contributed to national guidance on dyscalculia.

Research

Carla specialises in qualitative research, often working with multimodal data, microanalytic methods, and designing bespoke methodologies for data collection and analysis.

Current research interests include:

  • supporting and creating more positive experiences for students who have struggled with school mathematics taught in ‘standard’ or ‘traditional’ ways.
  • exploring creativity and diversity in learners' nonstandard arithmetical-representational strategies for mathematical problem-solving.
  • improving inclusive educational environments (both on campus and online) for marginalised learners, including disabled, neurodiverse and other currently-disadvantaged students.
  • training teachers in inclusive pedagogy for supporting students with SEN/Ds in the mainstream mathematics classroom.

She currently co-leads the international CERME thematic working group on Representations in Mathematics.

Teaching

Carla’s teaching is spread across multiple PhD, MA, BA and PGCE modules within the School of Education, Communication & Society.

She currently holds the roles of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Lead for ECS and Disability Inclusion Lead for the SSPP EDI working group. Staff and students interested in working to create a more inclusive academic environment (at King’s and beyond) are welcome to get in touch.

PhD supervision

Carla’s current and recently-completed research students have been working on:

  • Developing pedagogies to reduce mathematics anxiety for students who experience social, emotional and mental health difficulties.
  • Barriers and facilitators to educational engagement for neurodiverse students in secondary chemistry classrooms.
  • Experiences of primary school students with mathematical learning difficulties, as perceived by the students, their teachers and LSAs.
  • Arts teachers' beliefs and judgements regarding their students with SEN, and how they adapt teaching practice.
  • Literacy teaching for secondary school students with SEN, and its relationship to social and educational disadvantage.
  • Integration of students with learning difficulties in mainstream Saudi Arabian schools.

Prospective doctoral candidates are welcome to contact her by email.

Further information

For further details please see her Research Staff Profile.

    Research

    CRESTEM PGCE outside
    Centre for Research in Education in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (CRESTEM)

    Centre for Research in Education in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (CRESTEM)

    School classroom student and teacher
    Sustaining teacher quality and retention post-pandemic

    This project examines the impact of the substantial changes and sustained disruption caused by Covid-19 to the development of secondary school teachers.

    Project status: Completed

    News

    Uncovering new educational trends as students use real-world data to learn about statistics

    Brand new data from an international survey of teenagers is being used by students studying quantitative methods in educational research in the School of...

    Image of the Quantitative Methods Education Research online book

    CRESTEM welcomes international researchers to discuss the use of fine-grained sampling methods in STEM education research

    The Centre for Research in Education in STEM recently welcomed an international research team at King’s College London to share ideas about microgenetic...

    CRESTEM team with 3 international visitors

    Events

    04JulTeaching

    Towards disability-inclusive and anti-ableist communities in Higher Education - some work in progress

    Dr Carla Finesilver will discuss her work-in-progress on disability inclusion and anti-ableism in the HE context.

    Please note: this event has passed.

    Features

    Must-reads in education, communication and social sciences

    The School of Education, Communication & Society at King’s College London houses research from a range of different fields – from linguistics to education...

    Books side by side-tom-hermans-1903x558

      Research

      CRESTEM PGCE outside
      Centre for Research in Education in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (CRESTEM)

      Centre for Research in Education in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (CRESTEM)

      School classroom student and teacher
      Sustaining teacher quality and retention post-pandemic

      This project examines the impact of the substantial changes and sustained disruption caused by Covid-19 to the development of secondary school teachers.

      Project status: Completed

      News

      Uncovering new educational trends as students use real-world data to learn about statistics

      Brand new data from an international survey of teenagers is being used by students studying quantitative methods in educational research in the School of...

      Image of the Quantitative Methods Education Research online book

      CRESTEM welcomes international researchers to discuss the use of fine-grained sampling methods in STEM education research

      The Centre for Research in Education in STEM recently welcomed an international research team at King’s College London to share ideas about microgenetic...

      CRESTEM team with 3 international visitors

      Events

      04JulTeaching

      Towards disability-inclusive and anti-ableist communities in Higher Education - some work in progress

      Dr Carla Finesilver will discuss her work-in-progress on disability inclusion and anti-ableism in the HE context.

      Please note: this event has passed.

      Features

      Must-reads in education, communication and social sciences

      The School of Education, Communication & Society at King’s College London houses research from a range of different fields – from linguistics to education...

      Books side by side-tom-hermans-1903x558