Tracey Muir

Principles of Practice and Teacher Actions: Influences on Effective Teaching of Numeracy

Studies such as the Effective Teachers of Numeracy Study (Askew, Brown, Rhodes, Johnson, & Wiliam (1997) have contributed much to our understanding of what constitutes effective teaching of numeracy. This paper aims to build on these findings and to contribute a model that could be used to understand teachers’ numeracy practices and the factors that influence these practices. Through a synthesis of the literature, the author has devised a set of principles of practice which encapsulates effective teaching of numeracy and has identified six teacher actions which can be used to enact these principles. Findings from case studies conducted with three teachers indicated that the model provided a useful framework for observing and understanding classroom numeracy practices.

Up-close and personal: teachers' responses to an individualised professional learning opportunity

This paper provides an account of professional learning in action through documenting the experiences of three upper primary teachers as they engaged in reflection-on-action with the assistance of an academic mentor. Video-stimulated recall was used as a mechanism to encourage productive reflective practice, using video footage of each teachers numeracy lessons. The results indicated that although it was a powerful medium for stimulating reflection, and the teachers indicated that it was a beneficial process, there was limited evidence to suggest that it resulted in substantial changes to their practices. Reasons for this are hypothesised and recommendations made for personalising professional learning to cater for the needs and context of individual teachers.

Challenges, Reforms, and Learning in Initial Teacher Education

This critical review of Australasian research concerns initial teacher education published in the period 2012–2015. The contribution to the field is organised into four broad areas: (a) research on teacher preparation: accountability, effectiveness, and policies; (b) research on teacher preparation for the knowledge society, which forms the bulk of the reviewed research; (c) research on teacher preparation for diversity; and (d) research focused on the work of teacher educators. Situated within educational settings that are undergoing continuous change and politicised attention, we note, in particular, research efforts to critically explore, design, and trial pedagogies, tasks, and partnerships associated with occasioning productive learning opportunities for prospective teachers to learn both the knowledge and the core practices of ambitious teaching.

Bringing the Profession into University Classrooms: Narratives of Learning from Co-teaching Primary Mathematics

While some teacher educators work alongside teachers with their pre-service teachers in school settings, it is less common for teachers to work alongside teacher educators in university settings. The following chapter provides insights on how a mathematics lecturer and a Year 1 teacher taught primary pre-service teachers in a university classroom. Narratives from the co-teachers and two colleagues who observed lessons and interviewed the pre-service teachers tell the story of a co-teaching experience which developed relationships, a sense of community, and diverse skills and expertise of the co-teachers, along with the impact that the experience had on the participants.

Forging connections in early mathematics teaching and learning

This edited book promotes thinking, dialogue, research and theorisation on multiple ways of making connections in mathematics teaching and learning in early childhood education. The book addresses some key challenges in research, policy and practice in early childhood mathematics education. It examines diverse ways for learning experiences to connect young children to mathematics, and the importance of forging connections between mathematics and young children’s lives as key elements in their engagement with mathematics. Each chapter provides research or theoretical provocations and pedagogical implications for connecting children’s lived experiences and ways of learning in mathematics teaching. The chapters are drawn from a range of international authors who raise important ideas within the overall context of current research and consider the theoretical and practical implications of their research. As such, the book advances current thinking on mathematics teaching and learning for children in the early years from birth to eight years with an emphasis on children aged birth to 5 years. It considers the purpose and value in connecting mathematics teaching and learning to children’s lives, and provides provocations for both educators and researchers on the many under-researched and under-represented aspects of early years mathematics teaching and learning.

Forging Connections in Early Mathematics: Perspectives and Provocations

This edited book brings together an international collection of work on a consistent and growing focus in mathematics education: the need to forge connections in early mathematics learning. Each chapter examines diverse ways that connections can be made, philosophically, theoretically, and pedagogically, illustrating different perspectives and providing provocations for researchers and educators. This chapter introduces themes of connection found in mathematics education and interdisciplinary literature and considers the purpose and value of connection in mathematics learning, specifically for children from birth to eight years. An overview of each of the book chapters and their connections mathematics is also provided.

Using Mathematics to Forge Connections Between Home and School

This chapter reports on two initiatives that focused on improving parental understanding of contemporary mathematical practices as enacted in their child’s school and classroom. The first initiative entitled Engaging Families in Numeracy, commenced in 2009, and involved students from a variety of classes, in two different schools. The project was aimed at engaging parents in numeracy-related activities with their child at home on a regular, ongoing basis. Parents were initially surveyed in order to determine their knowledge and perceptions of how their child was taught numeracy and then invited to provide regular feedback on the activities their child engaged in at home. While parents were generally supportive of the programme, it was felt that there was still a lot of uncertainty about what actually happened in mathematics lessons at school. To address this, a second initiative, the ‘Maths Club’ was developed, whereby parent workshops were conducted by the author with a focus on familiarising parents with the mathematics curriculum, developing their own mathematical content knowledge, and providing them with opportunities to participate in classroom observation sessions.