Professional learning of beginning mathematics teachers at high schools in Shanghai

Abstract

The central focus of this study is to explore how three high school beginning mathematics teachers in Shanghai experienced the professional learning process in the early stage of their career, in situated contexts. Teacher professional learning is considered as a complex and dynamic system that connects both cognitive and situated perspectives on learning theory. The study adopted a longitudinal case study approach in which teachers’ beliefs, knowledge and teaching practice were analysed over the two academic years from 2013 to 2015. Data, mainly including classroom observation and interviews, were collected in four rounds. In each round, three or four consecutive lessons for each teacher were observed, and semi-structured interviews were conducted that focused on the teachers’ background information, beliefs, knowledge and teaching practice, as well as their own reflections on the learning process, and their mentors’ beliefs on and perceptions of their interactions with their mentees. Data analysis was qualitative to generate a holistic description of the teachers’ teaching and their learning for teaching. It was found that Doris, who experienced teaching-related training in her Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes and a one-year voluntary teaching practice, focused on learning to teach school mathematics in a teacher-centred way that was consistent with the collective ideas of other teachers in the same environment, while integrating the history and culture of mathematics into her teaching to promote students’ interest and mathematical thinking. Jerry, who learnt to teach mathematics in his Bachelor’s programme and obtained a Master’s degree in mathematics, particularly conducted performance-oriented learning, as demanded by the school environment. Tommy, who did not receive any teaching-related training, paid particular attention to learning how to teach mathematics in a school context and adjusted his original pedagogical beliefs accordingly. Combining the three cases together, it was found that the three teachers brought different beliefs and knowledge to their teaching practice due to their different individual experiences. However, they consistently conducted teacher-centred, content-focused and performance-oriented teaching practice over the two years in the school context, and learned related knowledge during the process of processional learning. At the end of the two years, interviews with the three teachers revealed contradictions between their stated beliefs and their actual teaching. In their mind, they tended to support student-centred teaching, while they actually conducted teaching that focused on the contents and students’ performance, as demanded by the environment. The main significance of the study lies in its insights into research methodology; its verification and enrichment of the theory of teacher professional learning; its insights into mathematics teacher education, and the learning and teaching of mathematics; and its findings regarding environmental influences on teacher professional learning in the context of Shanghai, China.