Abstract

New mathematics teachers have a tough time in today’s social and economic environment. As objects of scrutiny and critique, they navigate their way through the narrow straits of a culture that calls for increased testing and scripted pedagogical approaches. Prospective and beginning mathematics teachers. Often struggle for social expression as they confront tensions and contradictions between the demands of the current environment and their own histories as mathematics students. Understanding how they might assert their own professional voice is a central concern in any contemporary mathematics teacher education discussion. Tony Brown and Olwen McNamara seek that understanding. Their new book Becoming a mathematics teacher: Identity and identifications, ‘‘sides with the teacher in pursuing the development of her own professional voice’’ (p. 4). Engaging with the accounts of around 60 prospective and beginning mathematics teachers of children 4–11 years of age in England, the book will have many resonances with other settings and locations. It focuses on giving teachers an opportunity to voice their concrete experiences through time and place, and, along the way, Brown and McNamara pose the question of mathematics from within the parameters of beginning teachers’ experiences. They ask:

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