Abstract
The latest studies on the mathematical skills of French students have highlighted the poor performances in overseas territories. Several research works have suggested that, in some post-colonial contexts (such as overseas France), the low performance of students in the field of mathematics is correlated with the negative mental representations associated with this field of knowledge, produced by prejudices and stereotypes inherited from the colonial past. Following this hypothesis, this article presents the results of a study conducted in an ultramarine context, with 2,710 primary school pupils in the académie de la Martinique. The use of the Mathematical School Readiness Test, combined with a survey on mental representations of mathematics in which 89 children participated, confirmed the poor performance of Martinique’s pupils, while at the same time identifying avenues of analysis that would make it possible to devise more contextualized and effective teaching strategies.