Storylines in Voices of Frustration: Implications for Mathematics Teacher Education in Changing Times

Abstract

We have interviewed becoming mathematics teachers, in the last semester of their education, asking how they experience their time as teacher students with the focus on inclusive teaching. In their forthcoming daily work, they will be responsible for arranging for inclusive teaching that addresses all the learners’ needs in mathematics. We believe the voices of future teachers are important to include in conversations about how programs prepare future mathematics teachers for the work of teaching in today’s schools and classrooms. We used storylines as a theoretical construct to discuss the socio-political aspects of mathematics teacher education through the lens of two research questions: What storylines emerged in interviews with becoming mathematics teachers in their last semester of teacher education when they talked about teaching in diverse classrooms? What implications might these storylines have on mathematics teacher education? Our analysis made us aware of three important storylines: (1) storylines about the importance of language in mathematics education; (2) storylines about the importance of accepting diverse methods when doing mathematics; and (3) storylines about issues of invisibility at play in mathematics classrooms. In this paper, we discuss the importance of creating space for discussions in teacher education about issues that may challenge inclusive practices in mathematics classrooms.

Bringing Critical Mathematics Education and Actor–Network Theory to a Statistics Course in Mathematics Teacher Education: Actants for Articulating Complexity in Student Teachers’ Foregrounds

“…We agree with other colleagues in this Special Issue that critical mathematics education is an important opening for mathematics teaching and teacher education, for reasons already mentioned in the introductory section of this paper, and that its role is crucial for preparing students for a future as democratic citizens [37][38][39][40]. For this to happen in the context of teaching practice, teacher educators and student teachers must envisage themselves as future critical mathematics educators who are able to bring an active discussion of the formatting power of mathematics in society into the school classroom.…”

Gifted Students’ Actualization of a Rich Task’s Mathematical Potential When Working in Small Groups

“…Although this view is recognized in the mathematics education field, extant research has found that other fields have differing views. For example, mathematics as language-and culture-neutral is one perspective visible in news media, and beginning teachers are frustrated because they have experienced method rigidity in mathematics classrooms [35,36]. Our findings demonstrated that some students were almost invisible during the observed communications (see Tables 1 and 2).…”