The Fellowship of Practice: Facilitators’ Roles and Obligations in Mathematics Teacher Professional Development
Keywords:
mathematics teacher education research, facilitators, professional obligations, practice-based professional development, caricature analysisAbstract
The study reported in this article explored the hypothesis that mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) have professional obligations that constitute resources and constraints for managing practice-based professional development (PD). This was done by inspecting how 12 facilitators from varied institutional positions, who led a two-year implementation of StoryCircles, reflected on their work of facilitation. Participants were interviewed using a protocol that made explicit the hypothesis proposed. Using caricature analysis inspired by The Lord of the Rings, where a fellowship of companions supports one individual in carrying the Ring, the researchers developed facilitator caricatures that capture different orientations that facilitators can take when supporting teachers’ professional development. Findings reveal that all facilitators recognised disciplinary, interpersonal, individual, and institutional obligations as relevant to their work. The distinguishing feature was the choice of obligation each treated as the anchor in moments of uncertainty, reflecting the multiple sources of legitimacy for knowledge of mathematics teaching practice that facilitators may recognise when that practice becomes the content of PD. This study contributes to theorising the professional obligations that shape facilitation of practice-based mathematics PD and how facilitator identity is jointly constituted by systemic affordances and the personal resources individual facilitators bring to their role.
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