‘It’s Getting Me Thinking and I’m an Old Cynic’: Exploring the Relational Dynamics of Mathematics Teacher Change

From Section:
Professional Development
Countries:
England
Published:
Oct. 20, 2010

Source: Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, Volume 13, Number 5, 383-395. (October, 2010).

This paper investigates the relevance of actor-network theory to understanding teacher change in mathematics education by considering a single teacher change narrative.
Actor-network theory is a way of describing and understanding the complexity of social change.
The article is centered on a veteran teacher of mathematics who participated in a teacher led, teacher-educator-supported professional development project.

The project had two foci: investigating forms of school-based collaborative professional development in the context of developing a dynamic approach to teaching and learning geometry.
Three conceptual tools appropriated or adapted from actor network theory are used to describe and analyze features of this teacher narrative.
These tool are relationality, translation and fluidity.


Updated: Jun. 08, 2022
Keywords:
Educational change | Experienced teachers | Mathematics education | Mathematics teachers | Professional development | Social change | Teaching methods