Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Understanding the role of the teacher in emerging classroom practices: searching for patterns of participation

  • Original Article
  • Published:
ZDM Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The relationship between acquisitionism and participationism is a challenge in research on and with teachers. This study uses a patterns-of-participation framework (PoP), which aims to develop coherent and dynamic understandings of teaching as well as to meet the conceptual and methodological problems of other approaches. The paper presents PoP theoretically, but also illustrates its empirical use. It presents a novice teacher, Anna, who often engages with mathematics and with aspects of ‘the reform’ in ways that link well with how she builds relationships with her students and positions herself in her team of teachers. However, in other situations her engagement with mathematics is overshadowed by her involvement in other practices. The study suggests that there is some potential in PoP in spite of methodological difficulties.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ball, D. L., Thames, M. H., & Phelps, G. (2008). Content knowledge for teaching: What makes it special? Journal of Teacher Education, 59(5), 389–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bauersfeld, H. (1994). Theoretical perspectives on interaction in mathematics classrooms. In R. Biehler, R. W. Scholz, R. Strässer, & B. Winkelmann (Eds.), Didactics of mathematics as a scientific discipline (pp. 133–146). Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism. Perspective and method. Berkeley: University of Los Angeles Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boaler, J., & Greeno, J. G. (2000). Identity, agency, and knowing in mathematics worlds. In J. Boaler (Ed.), Multiple perspectives on mathematics teaching and learning (pp. 171–200). Westport, CT: Ablex.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, T., & McNamara, O. (2010). New teacher identity and regulative government. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charmaz, K. (2000). Grounded theory: Objectivist and constructivist methods. In N. K. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 509–535). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory. A practical guide through qualitative analysis. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cobb, P. (2007). Putting philosophy to work: Coping with multiple theoretical perspectives. In F. K. Lester (Ed.), Second handbook on research on mathematics teaching and learning (Vol. 1, pp. 3–38). Charlotte, NC: NCTM & IAP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cobb, P., & Yackel, E. (1996). Constructivist, emergent, and sociocultural perspectives in the context of developmental research. Educational psychologist, 31(3/4), 175–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ernest, P. (1991). The philosophy of mathematics education. London: Falmer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flyvbjerg, B. (2006). Five misunderstandings about case study research. Qualitative inquiry, 12(2), 219–245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodgen, J., & Askew, M. (2007). Emotion, identity and teacher learning: Becoming a primary mathematics teacher. Oxford Review of Education, 33(4), 369–287.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland, D., Skinner, D., Lachicotte, W, Jr, & Cain, C. (1998). Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horn, I. S., Nolen, S. B., Ward, C., & Campbell, S. S. (2008). Developing practices in multiple worlds: The role of identity in learning to teach. Teacher Education Quarterly, 35(3), 61–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoyles, C. (1992). Mathematics teachers and mathematics teaching: A meta-case study. For the Learning of Mathematics, 12(3), 32–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J. (1988). Cognition in practice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J. (1996). The practice of learning. In S. Chaiklin & J. Lave (Eds.), Understanding practice. Perspectives on activity and context (pp. 3–32). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning. Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Leder, G. C., Pehkonen, E., & Törner, G. (Eds.). (2002). Beliefs: A hidden variable in mathematics education?. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerman, S. (2001). A review of research perspectives on mathematics teacher education. In F.-L. Lin & T. J. Cooney (Eds.), Making sense of mathematics teacher education (pp. 33–52). Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lerman, S. (2006). Cultural psychology, anthropology and sociology: The developing strong social turn. In J. Maasz & W. Schlöglmann (Eds.), New mathematics education research and practice (pp. 171–188). Rotterdam: Sense.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lester, F. K. (2002). Implications for research on students’ beliefs for classroom practice. In G. C. Leder, E. Pehkonen, & G. Törner (Eds.), Beliefs: A hidden variable in mathematics education? (pp. 345–353). Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ma, L. (1999). Knowing and teaching elementary mathematics. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ma, J. Y., & Singer-Gabella, M. (2011). Learning to teach in the figured world of reform mathematics: Negotiating new models of identity. Journal of Teacher Education, 62(1), 8–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maasz, J., & Schlöglmann, W. (Eds.). (2009). Beliefs and attitudes in mathematics education. Rotterdam: Sense.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self, and society from the standpoint of a social behaviorist. Chicago: University of Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, C. W. (1962). Introduction. George Herbert Mead as social psychologist and social philosopher. In C. W. Morris (Ed.), Works of George Herbert Mead. Mind, self, and society from the standpoint of a social behaviorist (Vol. 1, pp. ix–xxxv). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  • Raymond, A. M. (1997). Inconsistency between a beginning elementary teacher’s mathematics beliefs and teaching practice. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 28(5), 550–576.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rösken, B., Törner, G., & Pepin, B. (Eds.) (2011). Beliefs and beyond: Affecting the teaching and learning of mathematics. ZDM—the International Journal on Mathematics Education, 43(4), 451–615.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowland, T., Turner, F., Thwaites, A., & Huckstep, P. (2009). Developing primary mathematics teaching. Reflecting on practice with the knowledge quartet. Los Angeles: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sfard, A. (1998). On two metaphors for learning and the dangers of choosing just one. Educational Researcher, 27(2), 4–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sfard, A. (2008). Thinking as communicating. Human development, the growth of discourses, and mathematizing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sfard, A., & Prusak, A. (2005). Telling identities: In search of an analytic tool for investigating learning as culturally shaped activity. Educational Researcher, 34(4), 14–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth through teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of a new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skott, J. (2001). The emerging practices of a novice teacher: The roles of his school mathematics images. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 4(1), 3–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skott, J. (2004). The forced autonomy of mathematics teachers. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 55(1–3), 227–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skott, J. (2008). A cautionary note: Is research still caught up in an implementer approach to the teacher? http://www.unige.ch/math/EnsMath/Rome2008/WG2/Papers/SKOTT.pdf. Accessed 13 Mar 2013.

  • Skott, J. (2009a). Contextualising the notion of belief enactment. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 12(1), 27–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skott, J. (2009b). Theoretical loops in mathematics education: Theory–practice relationships revisited. Asian Journal of Educational Research and Synergy, 1(2), 74–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skott, J., Larsen, D. M., & Østergaard, C. H. (2011). From beliefs to patterns of participation: Shifting the research perspective on teachers. Nordic Studies in Mathematics Education, 16(1–2), 29–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Speer, N. M. (2008). Connecting beliefs and practices: A fine-grained analysis of a college mathematics teacher’s collections of beliefs and their relationship to his instructional practices. Cognition and Instruction, 26, 218–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sztajn, P. (2003). Adapting reform ideas in different mathematics classrooms: Beliefs beyond mathematics. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 6(1), 53–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, A. G. (1984). The relationship of teachers’ conceptions of mathematics and mathematics teaching to instructional practice. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 15(2), 105–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Voigt, J. (1996). Negotiation of mathematical meaning in classroom processes: Interaction and learning mathematics. In L. P. Steffe, P. Nesher, P. Cobb, G. Goldin, & B. Greer (Eds.), Theories of mathematical learning (pp. 21–50). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, D., & Herbel-Eisenmann, B. (2009). Re-mythologizing mathematics through attention to classroom positioning. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 72(1), 1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wedege, T., & Skott, J. (2006). Changing views and practices? A study of the KappAbel mathematics competition. http://www.matematikksenteret.no/content.ap?thisId=57&language=0. Accessed 13 Mar 2013.

  • Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice. Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, M., & Cooney, T. J. (2002). Mathematics teacher change and development. The role of beliefs. In G. C. Leder, E. Pehkonen, & G. Törner (Eds.), Beliefs: A hidden variable in mathematics education? (pp. 127–148). Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden

    Jeppe Skott

  2. Department of Education, Aarhus University, 164 Tuborgvej, 2400, Copenhagen NV, Denmark

    Jeppe Skott

Authors
  1. Jeppe Skott
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeppe Skott.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Skott, J. Understanding the role of the teacher in emerging classroom practices: searching for patterns of participation. ZDM Mathematics Education 45, 547–559 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-013-0500-z

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-013-0500-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation