Mathematics and science teacher education in South Africa: A review of research, policy and practice in times of change

This paper describes a study of primary teacher educators reaction to those aspects of theDiscipline Review of Teacher Education in Mathematics and Science dealing with early childhood and primary pre-service teacher education. Interviews with two of the authors of the Review are also reported.

The seven articles that comprise this Special Issue examine the professional growth of mathematics and science teacher educators across different contexts and different foci of who is the teacher educator being studied. Despite these differences, a common thread running throughout these seven articles is the need for learning to be situated in collaboration with others. In this final article, we examine the contribution of these articles through two perspectives: that of the collaborative contexts supporting the professional growth of mathematics and science teacher educators, and the role of disciplinary knowledge as part of the purpose for teacher educators’ professional growth. We notice that collaboration can take on very different structures in supporting teacher educators’ professional learning due to the different purposes and roles of the teacher educators in the studies. We also notice that while collaboration figures as an important component in all of the studies, the disciplinary specific aspects of collaboration, i.e., how collaboration might be negotiated differently by teacher educators in mathematics and science, is still not well understood. Overall, these articles provide important insights that help to shed new light on the complex and multifaceted nature of teacher educators’ learning and growth and provide productive avenues for future research.

Sustainable living implies protecting our natural resources without compromising the needs of the next generations. Education has the power to transform humans’ perspectives and behaviour, which in turn, inculcates sustainable practices in all aspects of their lives. The United Nations (UN) called for education for sustainable development (ESD) as a global initiative towards transforming education for sustainability. This initiative catalysed this comparative study on teacher education policy and linked curricula between South Africa and Sweden. The major focus of this study is to compare policies and curricula in science and technology teacher education in South Africa and Sweden. The study illuminates and explores the status quo regarding ESD in the participating universities in South Africa and Sweden. Aspects of sustainability are investigated through document analysis of: the legislative teacher education policies; school science and technology curricula; and sampled modules for relevant institutional science and technology teacher education curricula. University subject experts conducted the analysis of policy documents and university curricula, using an agreed analytic tool. The data analysis reveals similarities and differences in policies and curricula with regard to ESD. The study recommends a rethink and reform of the content and methodology modules offered to initial teacher education students.

We report on an action research study conducted by two mathematics teacher educators in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. The project consisted of three phases, the first two taking place in our respective teacher education courses and a final phase in which prospective mathematics teachers from both locations engaged in dialogue through a speculative fiction task. Our aim was to explore how our prospective mathematics teachers can be supported in becoming mathematics teachers for sustainable futures by innovating our own mathematics teacher education curricula. This study suggests that generative methods which support teachers in speculating on paths to potential futures as teachers of mathematics, can provide access to how prospective teachers negotiate issues in relation to the climate crisis and ways in which they conceive of related changes in their practices. By identifying the aspects of mathematics teaching that are viewed by the prospective teachers as contingent, and through offering tasks that support an expansion of this view, teacher educators are better placed to support the development of teaching practices needed for sustainable futures.

A challenge of teacher education is to produce graduate primary school teachers who are confident and competent teachers of mathematics. Various approaches to primary school teacher education in mathematics have been investigated, but primary teacher education graduates still tend to be diffident in their teaching of mathematics. In an age where personal use of mobile technologies is becoming ubiquitous, such technologies could provide a conduit into making mathematics teaching and learning more accessible to primary teacher education students. This paper introduces the use of a pedagogical framework which can scaffold mobile learning in mathematics teacher education programs. The paper discusses ways in which this framework, the Mobile Pedagogical Framework, can contribute to enhanced primary teacher education in mathematics, using mobile technologies. The Framework has three major dimensions: authenticity, collaboration and personalisation. Each of these will be discussed in terms of their alignment with current ideas about quality teaching in mathematics.

The Elementary School Journal Volume 81, Number 1 ? 1980 by The University of Chicago 0013-5984/81/8101-0008$0o1.00 In colleges and universities across the country, prospective and practicing teachers and administrators take courses on planning-curriculum-planning and instructional planning. During the courses, teachers and administrators usually study an objectives-first model of curriculumplanning. This model has four steps. Planners are expected to 1. Formulate objectives 2. Choose appropriate learning activities

Foreword.- Preface.- Contributors.- I. Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching in Teacher Education.- Understanding Preservice Teachers' Curricular Knowledge.- Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching and its Specificity to High School Geometry Instruction.- Using Coordination Classes to Analyze Preservice Middle-Grades Teachers' Difficulties in Determining Direct Proportion Relationships.- A Processes Lens on a Beginning Teacher's Personal and Classroom Mathematics.- Commentary on Section 1: Mounting Progress on Understanding Mathematics Teacher Content Knowledge.- II. Beliefs and Identities in Mathematics Teacher Education.- Photo-Elicitation/Photovoice Interviews to Study Mathematics Teacher Identity.- Teachers, Attributions, and Students' Mathematical Work.- Teacher Identity and Tensions of Teaching Mathematics in High-Stakes Accountability Contexts.- Teachers' Learning Journeys Toward Reasoning and Sense Making.- Commentary on Section 2: Attending to Teachers in Mathematics Teacher Education Research.- III. Tools and Techniques for Supporting Teacher Learning.- Preservice Elementary Mathematics Teachers' Emerging Ability to Write Problems to Build on Children's Mathematics.- Examining the Relationship Between Preservice Elementary Teachers' Attitutudes Toward Mathematics and Professional Noticing Capacities.- Transitions in Prospective Mathematics Teacher Noticing.- Teachers' Uses of a Learning Trajectory as a Tool for Mathematics Lesson Planning.- Commentary on Section 3: Research on Teachers' Focusing on Children's Thinking: Teacher Noticing and Learning Trajectories.- Overall Commentary: Understanding and Changing Teachers.- Author Index.- Subject Index.

The interrogation of often unintended practices of marginalisation has gained focus in research on mathematics teaching and mathematics teacher education throughout the last decades. In this introductory survey paper, work against marginalisation in these contexts of mathematics education is viewed in terms of work towards equity, diversity and inclusion. Based on this interpretation, we present a framework on awareness and practice of equity, diversity and inclusion in mathematics teaching and mathematics teacher education research. We then use this framework and a survey method of mapping review to identify and comment on a selection of studies. As a result, we illustrate three research moves towards equity, diversity and inclusion, in the form of interconnected themes: (1) Widening the understanding of the mathematics and the mathematics education curricula (2) Improving the practice and discussion of mathematics teaching (3) Unpacking ideologies in mathematics teaching and mathematics teacher education. We finally examine the themes and the special issue papers together to foreground commonalities regarding awareness of discriminatory discourses and practices of creating and distributing opportunities for all groups, including those historically and currently marginalised. Despite the important increase of equity-driven principles of awareness, we conclude that mathematics education research on teaching and on teacher education needs more examples of practices whose development has been proved to challenge marginalisation.

This paper relates to a study commissioned by the Department of Employment, Education and Training to evaluate the impact of the Discipline Review of Teacher Education in Mathematics and Science. The major datagathering strategies employed in that study have been to visit every higher education institution in Australia involved in teacher education to interview relevant staff and to seek information by mail from other bodies to whom recommendations of the Review were addressed. This paper reports a supplementary activity, the analysis of citations of the Report of the Discipline Review in the journal of the Australasian Science Education Research Association,Research in Science Education. This research reveals that there has been relatively little critical analysis of the Review, somewhat surprising in the light of its significance for science teacher education. Further the citations in the journal suggest that the Review Report has struck a responsive chord with those involved in the science education of primary school teachers. Its impact on secondary teacher education would appear to be less significant. This difference is explored in the context of professional education.

Historically scholarly inquiry and practice in mathematics education has responded to societal values and questions. Drawing from the Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education’s description of mathematics teacher educator (MTE) work as in solidarity with and alongside mathematics teachers, we turn to mathematics teacher education research as a series of paradigm shifts. MTEs committed to supporting teachers and transferring knowledge attempted to influence mathematics teachers’ work by exploring and understanding teachers’ behaviors. MTEs have also used insider’s perspectives to report the particular of MTEs’ work by describing it beyond behavior and knowledge. These scholars fulfill the call for theoretical eclecticism and facilitate a turn to ontology. Authors in this book answered the call and joined colleagues in teacher education by using self-based methodologies and insider perspective to study their practices and report findings using intimate scholarship. Chapters offer characterizations of MTE work that complement existing findings, illustrate how self-based methodologies support the continued development of MTEs, and evidence how dissemination using intimate scholarship unearths MTEs’ philosophical considerations. This introductory chapter provides an overview of mathematics teacher education research to situate this volume historically and methodologically. The book’s chapters are then introduced in four sections highlighting chapters’ evidence of being, knowing, ethics, and the interrelatedness of these three philosophical perspectives. We conclude by arguing that using self-based methodologies and writing intimate scholarship reports is a transformative professional learning experience that provides readers with opportunities to consider their own practice activated by stories of others.

Preface. Section I: Perspectives on Teacher Education. Considering the Paradoxes, Perils, and Purposes of Conceptualizing Teacher Development T.J. Cooney. A Review of Research Perspectives on Mathematics Teacher Education S. Lerman. Section II: Making Sense of Mathematics. Investigating Mathematics and Learning to Teach Mathematics J.P. da Ponte. Using the Intuitive-Rules Theory as a Basis for Educating Teachers D. Tirosh, et al. The Use of New Technologies as a Vehicle for Restructuring Teachers' Mathematics C. Laborde. Section III: Making Sense of Teaching. Digitizing Real Teaching Practice for Teacher Education Programmes: The MILE Approach F. Goffree, W. Oonk. Thinking Teaching: Seeing Mathematics Teachers as Active Decision Makers P. Sullivan, J. Mousley. Mathematics Teaching, Teacher Education, and Educational Research: Developing 'Practical Theorising' in Initial Teacher Education K. Ruthven. Preparing Teachers for Handling Students' Mathematical Communication: Gathering Knowledge and Building Tools A. Sfard, C. Kieran. Section IV: Making Sense of the Context of Teaching. An Approach for Supporting Teachers' Learning in Social Context P. Cobb, K. McClain. Educating Student Teachers About Values in Mathematics Education A.J. Bishop. Pedagogical Values, Mathematics Teaching, and Teacher Education: Case Studies of Two Experienced Teachers C. Chin, et al. Section V: Making Sense of the Complexity of Teacher Education. Teachers' Growth is More Than the Growth of Individual Teachers: The Case of Gisela K. Krainer. Developing Mathematics Teaching: Teachers, Teacher Educators, and Researchers as Co-Learners B. Jaworski. Index.

Environmental knowledge is often regarded as difficult to define and position in education in general and in teacher education in particular. This presents challenges for both knowledge production and for curriculum development for teacher education programmes. While many ‘traditional’ disciplines have well-defined knowledge bases developed over time, environmental education does not, and is also less easy to integrate into teacher education programmes.In this paper, the policy framework for teacher education in South Africa is explored so as to develop ideas for knowledge selection and inclusion in environmental education for professional (teacher) education in South Africa. The works of Short (2002) on mission/practical knowledge and of Ball, Sleep, Boerst and Bass (2009) on high-leverage practices in teacher education curricula are used as ways of doing in order to enable environmental education. It is contended that these processes can provide ideas to exploit the generative spaces that exist in national policy for inclusion of contextualised, issue-based knowledge for curriculum organisation and of practice-based processes in order that environmental issues and sustainability goals may be included in teacher education curricula in South Africa.

Prospective teachers bring countless stories of success and failure from different mathematics classrooms to their post-field teacher education courses. These reflective stories often glorify school mathematics classrooms and dominant traditions within, instead of confronting the marginalization of diverse groups in school environments. Mathematics teacher educators have a significant role to play in teaching prospective teachers to reflect critically on their field experiences and, in doing so, create spaces for disruption and disruptive pedagogies. Drawing on critical and equity-based theories applied within the fields of mathematics education and teacher education research, we propose a disruptive pedagogy analytical framework that enables us to study the roles and practices of mathematics teacher educators as they conduct their work in these post-field contexts of teacher education. In this paper, we introduce our disruptive pedagogy framework and present the results that followed from using it to analyze data from a research study in which mathematics teacher educators from across Canada and Norway were interviewed. We claim that our analytical framework can be used to identify those disruptive and transformative practices initiated by mathematics teacher educators—practices that are necessary to bring about shifts in inequitable and unjust classroom practices of school mathematics and in becoming a teacher. Unfortunately, however, results reported here point to the need for further shifts and growth toward more explicitly disruptive practices initiated by mathematics teacher educators in the post-field context.

This study sought to explore math and science teacher educators' use of various media to represent practice within methods courses. There is little understanding of why certain media is used over other representations and the rationale for these choices. Specifically, the study focused on the prevalence and familiarity of teacher educators with comics and animations, standard videos, and 360 videos. This mixed methods study utilized a survey and interviews to ascertain math and science teacher educators' level of familiarity and perceived usefulness of representations of practice. Results indicate that standard video is by far the most used representation of practice in methods classes with three themes explaining this finding: access to representations of practice, dimensions of representation, and pertinacity of using representations. Familiarity with representations of practice relates to teacher educators' perceptions of access thereby indicating a need for teacher educators to have better access to representations. Implications of this study include supporting current literature about the relationship between the level of familiarity and perceived usefulness in media along with the potential need for a central platform that houses these representations of practice resources for teacher educators.

Action research provides valuable opportunities for preservice teachers to improve their practice, their understanding of their practice, and the situation in which their practice takes place. Moreover, action research empowers preservice teachers to critically examine an experience that demonstrates their potential to be influential researchers within their educational situations. In this study we utilize the construct of teacher uncertainty to characterize different dilemmas that preservice science and mathematics teachers encounter as they embark upon their first action research experience. Our study is guided by the following questions: what types of uncertainty do preservice teachers encounter; and in what ways can teacher action research facilitate how preservice teachers confront and embrace their uncertainties with becoming teachers as well as teacher researchers? This study represents a collaboration between a science teacher educator from the United States and a mathematics teacher educator from Ireland. We merge our research methodologies including data from qualitative sources (i.e. semi-structured interviews, reflections, and final action research papers) to isolate trends among the teachers’ uncertainties. Results indicated that preservice teachers harbour a range of uncertainties not only with learning how to teach science and mathematics but also with learning to engage in action research. A case can be made that doubts about one’s efficacy as a science or mathematics teacher are sometimes difficult; however, through action research, this sense of uncertainty can be recognized, accepted, and addressed in a positive and productive manner.