Learning metaphors and learning stories (stelos) of teachers participating in an in-service numeracy community of practice

Abstract

AbstractThis paper uses metaphors to describe how nine selected teachers are learning and developing maths identities through their participation in a primary maths focused in-service education teacher community, called the Numeracy Inquiry Community of Leader Educators (NICLE). The metaphors emerge from data obtained in interactive interviews about their learning and participation in the NICLE, focusing on their evolving mathematical identities. The focus on metaphorical terms is informed by the sociocultural-participationist theoretical perspective. The learning stories of these educators point to the emergence of two metaphors, namely activation and reinvigoration, in relation to their mathematics learning experiences and participation in the primary maths teacher in-service programme. Teachers with a history of mathematical competence reinvigorated their mathematical identities through participation in the NICLE with some of the teachers’ identities outcropping into a wider range of mathematical and m...