CONSIDERING THE DESIRED TEACHER OF MATHEMATICS TEACHER EDUCATION

• Teacher education generally has both a contextual component of observing and teaching in schools, and decontextualized elements in university courses (cf. Tatto et al., 2012). University courses may be content courses, general pedagogical courses, or mathematics education courses. The assessment criteria of each component or course transmit, both explicitly and implicitly, notions of the desired teacher. Our key concept is the desired teacher. This recognises the teacher as both a subject and as subjected to discourses of power which constitute categories such as ‘teacher’ and ‘good teacher’ (cf. Montecino & Valero, 2015). Notions or images of the desired teacher produce ‘regimes of truth’ which normalise reflection - or not, normalise transformation of content as part of teaching - or not, etc. The notion of what the good teacher is, has varied over time and place. Images of the charismatic teacher with the disposition to teach, have been around for a long time, and still prevail in popular culture (Connell, 2009). Connell also identified a technical-professional model, which prevails in descriptions of teachers’ “technical know-how”. But what are current, competing, contrasting or co-existing images of the desired teacher? This gives rise to this question guiding the work in the group: What are the images of the desired teacher reflected in references to desired knowledge and valued application practices, in institutional materials etc.?

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Desired teacher

observation protocols

practicum

mathematics teacher education

pre-service teacher education

Mathematics Education

matematikämnets didaktik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)