Unpacking mathematics preservice teachers’ conceptions of equity

Abstract

This report describes initial findings from a larger study conducted in the USA focusing on mathematics teacher preparation and beginning teacher practice as they relate to equity. We particularly address in this report a gap in the literature with respect to pre-service teachers’ conceptions of equity and equitable practice as they relate to issues of identity and power at the end of their teacher education programs. Interviews of 33 students near the completion of their teacher education programs were analyzed using Gutiérrez’s four dimensions of equity—access, achievement, identity, and power. Our findings suggest that these pre-service teachers had ways of thinking about these domains that were both varied and nuanced, with many students describing critical aspects of equitable instruction including attention to bias, representation, student participation, and classroom power structures. Our findings are consistent with prior research in that future teachers described many ideas related to equitable teacher practice that focused on access to mathematics, and, in many cases, deficit perspectives persisted. At the same time, our study suggests that beginning teachers may complete their education programs with critical knowledge around equity that could provide fertile ground for further professional learning.

Appendix A

Table 1 Research participants’ demographic data and grade level focus

Appendix B

Interview prompts.

• Since you began your teacher education program at [institution], what experiences have particularly impacted how you think about teaching mathematics?

• What are some of the most important things you have learned about teaching and about students in your teacher education program?

• What, if any, instruction or experiences related to equity have you had in your teacher education program?

• What have you learned about equity through your teacher education program?

• How do you feel personally about equity?

• What actions should math[s] teachers take to promote equity in opportunities to learn, participation in learning, and learning outcomes?

• What do you wonder about, or what questions do you have, about equity and mathematics teaching?

Appendix C

Pre-service teachers’ views on equitable Mathematics instruction related to identity.

Build confidence and celebrate success (19 PSTs).

• Dispel mathematical ability myths, promote a growth mindset.

• Value work, multiple ways of thinking, different solutions.

• Create an environment for success, celebrate success.

• Use names and revoicing to build community.

• Understand mental health needs and be flexible.

• Engage in active caring—learn about and attend to the student as a whole person.

Learn about and connect to students’ interests/cultures (18 PSTs).

• Use students’ interests as contexts for word problems.

• Get students to discuss where they see mathematics in their lives.

• Draw on students’ funds of knowledge from their language and culture.

• Attend to whether all students have prior knowledge of a given real-world context.

• Be aware of hidden identities that impact students (e.g., poverty, documentation status).

• Use your own identity as a role model for students.

• Ensure representation of students’ race and culture in the classroom (e.g., wall posters) and in the mathematics itself

Attend to bias and mindset (14 PSTs).

• Approach students with an asset mindset

  • Anti-deficit mindset (teacher) is important for a positive mathematics identity (student).

  • Build the mathematics using student thinking/ideas, including incorrect ideas.

• Be careful of judgments based on surface behaviors

  • Watch for stereotypes in one’s thinking and cultural biases.

  • Separate behavior from mathematical capability in your own mind.

  • Understand the brain/body development of adolescents as it relates to student behavior.

• Understand and reflect on your biases, take action and continue to learn

  • Identify your prejudices and the forms they take in the classroom (e.g., who tends to get viewed as a mathematician).

  • Be a reflective practitioner and a life-long learner around equity (and in general).

  • Avoid unconscious bias (e.g., use a random number generator to select students, use Desmos to gather up and display ideas and avoid calling on individuals).

  • Be careful—some actions (e.g., using gender binaries in speech) harm students.

  • Do not view a systemic issue as an issue with a person.

  • Don’t judge students by comparing them to other students.

Appendix D

Pre-service teachers’ views on equitable Mathematics instruction related to power.

Use power to assign competence and/or alter the hierarchies of competence/power (16 PSTs).

Attend to the voices of marginalized students when setting up norms/procedures

Attend to status issues during group work

Use strategies to more fairly distribute participation (e.g., Complex Instruction, think–pair-share)

Ask students if they mind sharing, give them time to prepare and choose how to share, and create different ways that students can participate and communicate

Shift power to students over how and with whom they work

Orient the classroom away from a “cis-gendered, White, heteronormative space”

Engage students in using mathematics to critically analyze the world (10 PSTs).

Develop mathematical knowledge and knowledge of the world together.

Students can and should develop knowledge of the world and build their voice

Students can use real-world situations/data to make decisions and take actions beyond the classroom

Empower students to not be fooled by misleading data or data representations

Know your students, be careful of potential trauma given different personal experiences around a real-world topic (e.g., gentrification)

Show students ways that they can make an impact beyond the classroom