Abstract
We come together, five mathematics teacher educators from varied cultural backgrounds and diverse academic pathways, interested in teacher professional learning, and interested in exploring our understanding of colonial practices in mathematics education specifically and in education more generally. In this paper, we share our stories, drawing upon our own experiences in conversation with each other and in dialogue with academic readings. Our paper studies tensions encountered as we explore decolonizing educational practices within colonial structures, paying close attention to place/land-based pedagogies. In recognizing education as a colonial act, we examine some of the literature in decolonizing education and research before introducing arguments for the role of mathematics education in colonizing educational practices. As a collaborative research group, we met regularly over a period of 3 months, collecting audio recordings of our meetings, transcriptions, shared individual writings, and written responses to each other’s writing and academic readings. We draw on narrative inquiry to structure our experiences of decolonizing mathematics teacher professional learning through living and telling stories and then through re-telling and re-living stories. We argue that this process is rewarding and challenging, and requires individual and collective ongoing dialogue. With our stories, we challenge the places where mathematics is performed, for example from classrooms to learning gardens, and what counts as mathematics. We conclude with questions to frame future directions and dialogues with an invitation to others to respond through critical dialogue and practice.
Résumé
Nous nous sommes réunis, cinq professeurs en didactique des mathématiques provenant d'horizons culturels variés et de parcours universitaires différents, qui s’intéressent à l'apprentissage professionnel des enseignants et qui souhaitent explorer leurs connaissances des pratiques coloniales dans l'enseignement en général, et dans l'enseignement des mathématiques en particulier. Dans cet article, nous partageons nos récits, en conversant les uns avec les autres, en nous appuyant sur nos propres expériences et en nous confrontant avec les documents de recherche existants. Notre article analyse les tensions rencontrées alors que nous explorons la décolonisation des pratiques éducatives au sein des structures coloniales, en accordant une attention particulière aux pédagogies locales ou fondées sur la terre. En reconnaissant l'éducation comme un acte colonial, nous examinons une partie de la littérature et de la recherche sur la décolonisation de l'éducation, avant d'introduire des arguments sur le rôle joué par l'enseignement des mathématiques dans la colonisation des pratiques éducatives. En tant que groupe de recherche collaboratif, nous nous sommes rencontrés régulièrement sur une période de 3 mois, et nous avons partagé les enregistrements audio de nos réunions, les transcriptions, des textes individuels ou en collaboration, et nos réponses écrites aux textes et aux lectures de chacun. Nous nous appuyons sur l'enquête narrative pour structurer nos expériences en matière de décolonisation de l'apprentissage professionnel des enseignants de mathématiques, d’abord par le récit d’histoires vécues, puis en racontant et en revivant ces mêmes histoires. Nous estimons que ce processus est à la fois gratifiant et stimulant, et qu’il nécessite un dialogue continu individuel et collectif. Grâce à nos récits, nous remettons en question les lieux où les mathématiques sont enseignées, par exemple des salles de classe aux jardins d'apprentissage, et tout ce qui, dans la pratique, est appelé « mathématiques ». Nous terminons par quelques questions visant à définir les orientations et les dialogues futurs, et nous invitons d’autres chercheurs à répondre par le biais de dialogues et de pratiques critiques.
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Nicol, C., Gerofsky, S., Nolan, K. et al. Teacher Professional Learning with/in Place: Storying the Work of Decolonizing Mathematics Education from within a Colonial Structure. Can. J. Sci. Math. Techn. Educ. 20, 190–204 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42330-020-00080-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42330-020-00080-z