Project: Becoming a mathematics teacher (BeMT): The role of teacher education
In this project, the aim was to explore the role of mathematics teacher education and the mathematics teacher educator in the formation and development of mathematics teachers’ professional identities, with a specific focus on the relationship with mathematics teacher educators’ practices.
This project was concluded in February 2024 and is now part of the project The Makings of a Mathematics Teacher.
Project information
Project members
Andreas Ebbelind, Linnaeus University; Tracy Helliwell, University of Bristol, UK
Participating organizations
Linnaeus University; University of Bristol, UK
Timetable
2020–2024
Subject
Mathematics education, pedagogics and educational sciences (Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Technology)
More about the project
Background
We met at CERME 11 in Utrecht in February 2019. Two early career researchers from different countries, different settings, and different theoretical perspectives. Andreas, a primary mathematics teacher educator from Sweden, was researching the process of becoming a mathematics teacher, whilst Tracy, a secondary mathematics teacher educator from the UK, was researching her own process of becoming a mathematics teacher educator.
Although there were obvious differences in our backgrounds as well as our research foci and approaches, when we spoke we were struck more by similarities and resonances than differences. We found that we shared common research interests and were both motivated by the lack of research concerning the practices of mathematics teacher educators in relation to the development of mathematics teachers.
Since then, we have been collaborating as researchers. We have development of a methodology for studying the language-in-use of mathematics teacher educators through combining our different theoretical perspectives (Helliwell & Ebbelind, submitted).
Research foci
In September 2021, we presented findings from an initial phase of our research together where we examined the interpersonal aspects of the language used by one mathematics teacher educator in Sweden (Ebbelind & Helliwell, 2022). We arrived at several important questions about how participating in an initial teacher education situation may contribute to the development of prospective mathematics teachers.
In a related study (Ebbelind & Helliwell, 2022b), we applied a further layer of analysis, this time from the perspective of a group of prospective mathematics teachers participating in the same teacher education situation. In doing so, we became aware of the conflicting stories being told (and lived) concerning the effective teaching and learning of mathematics.
Findings from these two initial studies inspired us to explore further the different perceptions of mathematics teaching and learning of those people destined to become our future teachers of mathematics. Subsequently, we have begun addressing the issue of mathematics teacher learning and development from an ethical perspective (Ebbelind & Helliwell, 2022c) whilst exploring innovative ways of conducting and communicating research that encourages members of the mathematics teacher education community (ourselves included) to critically reflect on their practices and the design of their teacher education programmes. We have been drawn to using arts-based approaches to research as a way to say more about the process of becoming mathematics teachers than formal analytical methods can do alone (Ebbelind & Helliwell, 2022c).
Ultimately, we aim to explore the role of mathematics teacher education and the mathematics teacher educator in the formation and development of mathematics teachers’ professional identities, with a specific focus on the relationship with mathematics teacher educators’ practices.