Prospective mathematics teachers’ collective identity work: navigating failure experiences and concerns about relating to students

Authors

  • Sonja Lutovac
  • Johanna Havia

Keywords:

mathematics education

Abstract

The present study explores the collective identity work of prospective secondary mathematics teachers as they engage with their experiences of failure and success. The findings show how they navigate concerns about relating to students, resulting in failure-provoking or failure-reducing collective identity work. The prospective teachers’ perspectives arising from these distinct types of collective identity work are discussed as they might impact their development and future instruction, especially due to the absence of self-development strategies. This study highlights the need to build prospective mathematics teachers’ ability and confidence to relate to students unlike themselves and to problematise their seemingly unproblematic learning experiences and perspectives they co-construct in the collective identity work.

References

Alderton, J. (2017). Kelly’s story: transformative identity work in primary mathematics teacher education. Gender and Education, 32 (2), 145–160. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2017.1336204

Bingham, A. J. (2023). From data management to actionable findings: a five-phase process of qualitative data analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231183620

Black, L., Mendick, H. & Solomon, Y. (Eds.) (2009). Mathematics relationships in education: identities and participation. Routledge.

Bobis, J., Khosronejad, M., Way, J. & Anderson, J. (2020). ”Sage on the stage” or ”meddler in the middle”: shifting mathematics teachers’ identities to support student engagement. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 23, 615–632. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-019-09444-1

Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3 (2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Chronaki, A. & Matos, A. (2014). Technology use and mathematics teaching: teacher change as discursive identity work. Learning, Media, and Technology, 39 (1), 107–125. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2013.776076

Darragh, L. & Radovic, D. (2019). ”To Tia with love”: Chilean mathematics teacher identities after professional development. ZDM, 51, 517–527. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-018-01023-7

Fish, M. & Persaud, A. (2012). (Re)Presenting critical mathematical thinking through sociopolitical narratives as mathematics texts. In H. Hickman & B. J. Porfilio (Eds.), The new politics of the textbook. Constructing knowledge. SensePublishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6091-930-5_5

Freitas, E. de (2008). Troubling teacher identity: preparing mathematics teachers to teach for diversity. Teaching Education, 19 (1), 43–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10476210701860024

Gamson, W. A. (1991). Commitment and agency in social movements. Sociological Forum, 6, 27–50.

Georgakopoulou, A. (2006). The other side of the story: towards a narrative analysis of narratives-in-interaction. Discourse Studies, 8, 265–287. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445606061795

Gomez, C.N. (2018). Identity work of a prospective teacher: an argumentation perspective on identity. Mathematics Teacher Education and Development, 20 (1), 43–61.

Gomez, M.L., Burda Walker, A. & Page, M.L. (2000). Personal experience as a guide to teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 16, 731–747. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(00)00022-6

Goulding, M., Hatch, G. & Rodd, M. (2003). Undergraduate mathematics experience: its significance in secondary mathematics teacher preparation. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 6, 361–393. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026362813351

Graven, M. & Heyd-Metzuyanim, E. (2019). Mathematics identity research: the state of the art and future directions. ZDM, 51 (3), 361–377. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-019-01050-y

Hossain, S., Mendick, H. & Adler, J. (2013). Troubling ”understanding mathematics in-depth”: its role in the identity work of student-teachers in England. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 84 (1), 35–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-013-9474-6

Kaasila, R., Hannula, M. & Laine, A. (2012). ”My personal relationship towards mathematics has necessarily not changed but” analyzing preservice teachers’ mathematical identity talk. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 10, 975–995. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-011-9308-x

Kapur, M. (2008). Productive failure. Cognition and Instruction, 26 (3), 379–424. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370000802212669

Kleickmann, T., Richter, D., Kunter, M., Elsner, J., Besser, M. et al. (2013). Teachers’ content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge: the role of structural differences in teacher education. Journal of teacher education, 64 (1), 90–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487112460398

Lasky, S. (2005). A sociocultural approach to understanding teacher identity, agency and professional vulnerability in a context of secondary school reform. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21 (8), 899–916. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2005.06.003

Liang, B., Ng, O. L. & Chan, Y. C. (2023). Seeing the continuity behind ”double discontinuity”: investigating Hong Kong prospective mathematics teachers’ secondary–tertiary transition. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 113, 107–124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-022-10197-7

Loewenberg Ball, D., Thames, M. H. & Phelps, G. (2008). Content knowledge for teaching – What makes it special? Journal for Teacher Education, 59 (5), 389–407. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487108324554

Losano, L. & Costa Trindade Cyrino, M. C. de (2017). Current research on prospective secondary mathematics teachers’ professional identity. In The mathematics education of prospective secondary teachers around the world. ICME-13 topical surveys. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38965-3_4

Lutovac, S. (2019). Pre-service mathematics teachers’ narrated failure: stories of resilience. International Journal of Educational Research, 98, 237–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2019.09.006

Lutovac, S. (2020). How failure shapes teacher identities: pre-service elementary school and mathematics teachers’ narrated possible selves. Teaching and Teacher Education, 94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103120

Lutovac, S. (2022). ”Narrated failures” [data set]. University of Oulu. http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:att:2bca9dec-8d33-42f6-8f73-262fd029c491

Lutovac, S. & Flores, M.A. (2021). ”Those who fail should not be teachers”: pre-service teachers’ understandings of failure and teacher identity development. Journal of Education for Teaching, 47 (3), 379–394. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2021.1891833

Lutovac, S. & Kaasila, R. (2011). Beginning a pre-service teacher’s mathematical identity work through narrative rehabilitation and bibliotherapy. Teaching in Higher Education, 16 (2), 225–236. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2010.515025

Lutovac, S. & Kaasila, R. (2014). Pre-service teachers’ future-oriented mathematical identity work. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 85 (1), 129–142. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-013-9500-8

Lutovac, S. & Kaasila, R. (2018a). Future directions in research on mathematics-related teacher identity. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 16 (4), 759–776. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-017-9796-4

Lutovac, S. & Kaasila, R. (2018b). An elementary teacher’s narrative identity work at two points in time two decades apart. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 98, 253–267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-018-9816-5

Lutovac, S. & Kaasila, R. (2022). Towards conceptualising failure inmathematics as an autobiographical experience. European Journal of Teacher Education, 45 (5), 689–706. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2021.1892070

Machalow, R., Goldsmith-Markey, L. T. & Remillard, J. T. (2022). Critical moments: pre-service mathematics teachers’ narrative arcs and mathematical orientations over 20years. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 25, 35–61. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-020-09479-9

Marschall, G. (2022). The role of teacher identity in teacher self-efficacy development: the case of Katie. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 25, 725–747. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-021-09515-2

Neumayer DePiper, J. (2013). Teacher identity work in mathematics teacher education. For the Learning of Mathematics, 33 (1), 9–15. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43894833

Ochs, E. & Capps, L. (1996). Narrating the self. Annual Review of Anthropology, 25, 19– 43. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.25.1.19

Osborn, J-A., Prieto, E. & Butler, E. (2021). Shaping our collective identity as mathematics teacher educators. In M. Goos & K. Beswick (Eds.), The learning and development of mathematics teacher educators: international perspectives and challenges (pp. 245–262). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62408-8_13

Prescott, A. & Cavanagh, M. (2006). An investigation of pre-service secondary mathematics teachers’ beliefs as they begin their teacher training. In P. Grootenboer & T. Muir (Eds.), Conference of the Mathematics education research group of Australasia (Vol. 1, pp. 424–432). MERGA.

Putten, S. van, Stols, G. & Howie, S. (2014). Do prospective mathematics teachers teach who they say they are? Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 17, 369–392. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-013-9265-0

Rappaport, J. (2000). Community narratives: tales of terror and joy. American Journal of Community Psychology, 28 (1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005161528817

Ricoeur, P. (1991). Narrative identity. Philosophy Today, 25, 73–81.

Skott, J., van Zoest, L. & Gellert, U. (2013). Theoretical frameworks in research on and with mathematics teachers. ZDM, 45 (4), 501–505. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-013-0509-3

Snow, D.A. & Corrigall-Brown, C. (2015). Collective identity. In J. D. Wright (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed., pp. 174–180). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.10403-9

Towers, J., Hall, J., Rapke, T., Martin, L. C. & Andrews, H. (2017). Autobiographical accounts of students’ experiences learning mathematics: a review. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 17 (3), 152–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/14926156.2016.1241453

Whooley, O. (2007). Collective identity. In G. Ritzer (Ed.), Blackwell encyclopedia of sociology (pp. 586–588). Wiley-Blackwell.

Xenofontos, C. & Andrews P. (2023). The experiential construction of mathematics teacher identity and the impact of early mathematical failure. Frontiers in Education, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1158973

Downloads

Published

2024-11-19

How to Cite

Lutovac, S., & Havia, J. (2024). Prospective mathematics teachers’ collective identity work: navigating failure experiences and concerns about relating to students. NOMAD Nordic Studies in Mathematics Education, 29(3-4), 19–40. Retrieved from https://tidsskrift.dk/NOMAD/article/view/150751

Issue

Section

Articles