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Identity and Professional Agency of a Mathematics Teachers at the Interface between the School and Professional Master’s Degree Worlds

Abstract

In-service teacher education initiatives are essential opportunities for teachers to promote changes in their school practices. However, these are complex, fragile, and uncertainty-ridden processes. This article approaches this topic by analyzing a specific teacher education initiative – a Professional Master’s Degree – and by exploring the experiences of a mathematics teacher graduated from such program. Considering that participation in teacher education initiatives usually involves negotiating new ways of being and acting into the teaching profession, the theoretical perspective is based on the notions of professional identity, agency, and figured worlds. The study adopts a qualitative perspective and presents a double-aimed analytical approach. Firstly, it analyses the Professional Master’s Degree, seeking to reveal the theory or conception of teachers’ learning that supports the practices developed by the program. Secondly, it develops an interpretative case study revealing how the graduated negotiated new ways of being a mathematics teacher and of conceiving and directing his teaching practice from his participation in the master’s degree. The results highlight two interconnected factors regarding the introduction of changes in teachers’ practices from participation in the master’s degree: The central role played by the school context in the production of changes in teaching practices and the potentiality of the professional master’s degree in giving rise to synergic processes between identity development and the exercise of agency.

Keywords:
Professional identity; Professional agency; Mathematics teachers; Professional Master’s Degrees; Narrative analysis

UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista, Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação Matemática Avenida 24-A, 1515, Caixa Postal 178, 13506-900 Rio Claro - SP Brasil - Rio Claro - SP - Brazil
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