In this article, I outline processes that supported or hindered Elin, a mathematics teacher, to engage in pedagogy development. In a setting inspired by critical mathematics education, Elin was encouraged to bring societal themes into her upper secondary teaching so that mathematics was connected to social science subjects. A classroom environment was set up in which classroom discourses supported students' negotiations about their learning of mathematics. In this new pedagogical discourse, projects were introduced that while addressing the mandated mathematical topics of the curriculum, changed some key elements in how mathematics had been previously taught as well as the relationships between participants. Elin's narrated identities provided ways to understand shifts in Elin's ways of acting when gradually transforming her teaching. Elin's identities illuminated how she became aware of herself, her teaching organisation and her different ways of interacting with students. She identified and acted upon her perceptions of the new possibilities and different responsibilities that actors in mathematics classrooms have. Elin's fluctuating teacher identities reveal why she struggled at times and how she was constrained in becoming the teacher she wanted to become.
The aim of this article is to explore how a sociopolitical analysis can contribute to a deeper understanding of critical aspects for becoming primary mathematics teachers' identities during teacher education. The question we ask is the following: How may power relations in university settings affect becoming mathematics teachers' subject positioning? We elaborate on the elusive and interrelated concepts of identity, positioning and power, seen as dynamic and changeable. As these concepts represent three interconnected parts of research analysis in an on-going larger project data from different sources will be used in this illustration. In this paper, we clarify the theoretical stance, ground the concepts historically and strive to connect them to research analysis. In this way, we show that power relations and subject positioning in social settings are critical aspects and need to be taken seriously into account if we aim at understanding becoming teachers' identities.
Mathematics is full of mystery. We illuminate the myth to expose two conflicting senses of mystery at work in mathematics and its education practices. There is a sense of boundlessness with mathematics-the idea that we never fully know. There is also a practice of concealment, in which an answer or solution is known by special people who may support or provide a scaffold for students' navigation to the "special" knowledge, but may also challenge their access to it by erecting barriers and boundaries. In remythologizing mystery, we identify that the valorization of mystery in mathematics is rooted in the wonder of exploring boundless landscapes and is used misleadingly to justify school mathematics with the other sense of mystery-uncovering the concealed.
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