Charoula Stathopoulou

I am Charoula Stathopoulou, Professor Emerita at the University of Thessaly since 2023. Until September 2022, I served as Professor of Mathematics Education at the Department of Special Education at the same university.
My academic journey began in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Athens, where I later returned for postgraduate studies in Mathematics Education and Methodology, while working as a secondary school teacher. Prior to that, I had completed postgraduate studies in Social Anthropology at the University of Aegean. The experience and dilemmas I encountered in the classroom led me to pursue a PhD in Ethnomathematics, approached as a pathway toward understanding and addressing diversity (University of the Aegean). Grounded in a social anthropological epistemological and methodological framework, I conducted a field study (Critical Ethnography) for my Thesis, entitled: “Connecting Cultural Context with Mathematics Learning and Teaching: An Ethnographic Study of a Classroom of Roma Children and their Community of Origin.”
Recognizing the limitations of sociocultural perspectives to fully account for phenomena related to (mathematics) education —particularly for students situated outside mainstream— prompted me to expand my theoretical lens toward sociopolitical and post-structural approaches. For instance, I adopted a Foucauldian perspective to explore mechanisms of discipline, normalization, and exclusion embedded in educational practices, especially when addressing socially marginalized populations (e.g., Roma students, incarcerated youth, girls). At the same time, I was drawn to the concepts of rhizomatic learning and nomadic thought as formulated by Deleuze & Guattari, seeking open, non-linear, and non-hierarchical frameworks for understanding subjectivity’s formation and diversity.
Over the course of my academic career, I have published more than 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and edited volumes, and have delivered invited talks at national and international conferences. I have supervised six PhD Thesis in the broader field of mathematics education on topics such as: the role of art and technology in mathematics teaching; mathematics education for students with intellectual disabilities; mathematics education of Roma children grounded in the theoretical frameworks of Pinar and Deleuze & Guattari; the development of culturally responsive mathematics curricula for incarcerated youth; and the gendered discourses of mathematics teachers and its role in shaping girls’ mathematical subjectivities—drawing from Foucauldian analysis.
Finally, my research orientation is also reflected in the projects I have coordinated, including two recent examples: CoSpIRom – Common Spaces for the Integration of Roma (http://cospirom.sed.uth.gr), funded by the European Union; ACTinPRISON – Interaction matters: Research on the development of alternative curricular experiences for young prisoners and prospective teachers (https://actinprison.sed.uth.gr), funded by H.F.R.I.