Primary Mathematics and the Developing Professional: Multiple Perspectives on Attainment in Numeracy
As a researcher in mathematics education, I could not wait to get my hands on this book. We all know how expensive ‘Kluwer’ books are (especially hard back), and if the King’s College, London (KCL) team had put it together, I knew it would be something worth reading and extremely helpful in my research. I was not disappointed, however, this book did not talk to me just as a researcher, it spoke to me as a teacher of mathematics, a mathematics coordinator, a primary teacher trainer, a numeracy consultant (if I had been one) and anyone responsible for the subject in the primary sector. It offers insightful reflection through a rigorously researched body of knowledge which offering the reader opportunities to see and understand more than before.
Each chapter is presented in the form of a collection of academic papers, but this does not undermine the book’s accessibility. Each topic/chapter draws on a particular research project and is presented in useful and appropriate sections. For example, an abstract is offered at the beginning of each chapter clearly stating what is covered, an introduction, sub-sections which are broken down into specific factors, a summary and discussion followed by a list of references. This is an academic book, but it is written and offered in a style for all interested parties to read and a most helpful ‘dip-in’ reference.
The book develops a framework for describing the ways in which primary teachers make changes to their understandings and practices in mathematics education or, as Simon et al (2000) describe it, ‘teachers in transition’. The framework (according to the ‘blurb’) was developed to offer a transparent view of how the complexity of external and internal aspects of change processes can be explored in a holistic way. The context is specific to a period of time before and after the introduction of the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS) was introduced in England. However, the themes that the chapters tackled offer a broader ‘landscape’ and consider issues of interest to anyone concerned with the development of mathematics teaching today.
Margaret Brown’s introduction frames the book well. Many in mathematics education will have a personally constructed view of why the NNS came about as a ‘systematic government-imposed response’ to national concern about primary numeracy. However, few in the profession will have had access to the various facts, beliefs and opinions, whether warranted or not, that informed its development.
Alison Millett and Tamara Bibby, in chapter 1, provide a model for discussing teachers' changing practice; the zone of enactment. Using this framework they draw the reader’s attention to potential development where individuals might ‘notice, construe, construct and operationalise’ (Spillane, 1999,p144) and therefore reform their practice. They contextualise their model by discussing external and internal influences affecting teachers where external factors include the increased specification of the curriculum, changing pedagogic expectations and the rhetoric of lifelong learning. For many primary teachers the teaching of mathematics is a cause for concern; its place in personal biographies may be uncomfortable and replete with memories of confusion, pain and limited success.
They discuss teacher change within the interplay of the external and internal which is, as they point out, inherently difficult. Previous approaches to teacher development have tended to simplify the task by dealing with the external separately from the internal. Thus, they acknowledge, for example, that a decision to undertake professional development may derive from the individual teacher, the school or in response to external reform initiatives.
Chapter 2 is based on the data collected for the Focus Project: Whole School Action on Numeracy (1997-2001), from which Millett and Johnson discuss the role of a mathematics coordinator in the primary school. This is an excellent read for anyone working in this role or one contemplating entering it. Drawing on observations undertaken over a period of four years, they discuss the effect the coordinator had on the participating school, the perceptions of those in the schools and the trends in the schools’ national test results at age 11. This is taken a step further in chapter 3 (Millett and Johnson) when they look at the role of the school in developing mathematics, including the role of the head teacher and the way in which the role of school policies influence opportunities for professional development. This is a fascinating section of the book unlike anything I have read before. Obviously it is based on particular schools with specific and individual characteristics, but these are then set in a wider context through the examination of the features of schools from the longitudinal study in the Leverhulme Numeracy Research Programme that have been successful in achieving improvements in the mathematics attainment of their pupils over the course of the study.
Chapter 4 discusses what the authors, Rhodes and Millett, have learnt from their research on the impact of a major national reform initiative. The ways in which materials provided for the teaching of mathematics were used, and how they affect teachers’ professional development. It offers a thoughtful analysis of teacher professionalism and examined the fear that a teacher’s reliance on published schemes would be transferred not only to lesson plans (what to teach), but also scripts on how to teach. The discussion at the end of the chapter offers an optimistic view that as teachers become more confident with ‘new’ ways of planning, more opportunities for collaborative planning and discussion of materials may be created.
Chapter 5 looks at the responses of teachers to the course of intensive training that the NNS provided by the ‘new’ numeracy consultants. The researchers (Millett, Askew and Simon) spoke to the participant teachers before, after and then 9 months post training and then again 18 months later. This process provided some rich data for those in the field of professional development, highlighting some important issues to consider when working with primary teachers and attempting to implement changes in practice.
Chapter 6 should be read by every teacher who was ‘there’ during the implementation of the NNS. The authors (Simon, Millett and Askew) discuss two case studies where the participant teachers practice is put under a microscope, before the NNS was implemented, during and then after. It highlights the struggle and success of personal experiences in a primary classroom, offering the reader the opportunity to identify those aspects in their own practice that are effective and those that might be recognised as in need of development.
Chapters 7 and 8 document the role of professional development in the Primary Cognitive Acceleration in Mathematics Education project (P-CAME), and examine how this form of professional development has affected the beliefs and practice of the teacher-researchers. Again the authors (Johnson, Hodgen and Adhami) provide useful insights for professional development, identifying important issues concerning the complexities of the teaching of primary mathematics from a number of perspectives.
Summary
The authors offer in this book a fascinating summary of their recent work. It provides clear evidence which the ‘average’ reader (researcher/teacher/numeracy consultant) might take months to gather, thus making this book an essential read. It unpacks the complexity of the processes primary teachers encounter in their attempts to improve their practice.
I strongly recommend this book to all working in mathematics education. It raises and addresses important questions. Its consideration and contemplation of the internal and external influences that we might not consider in our everyday work creates unforeseen insights. I just wish that Kluwer would offer the books at a more affordable price. Maybe then more teachers (and others) would have the opportunity to read this and the next three in the series. The point I am trying to make is that I would gladly purchase these books for my own growing library, but alas at these prices I will have to rely on the very small budget my institution provides for the department.
References
Simon, M.A., Tzur, R., Heinz, K., Kinzel, M. and Schwan Smith, M. (2000) Characterizing a perspective underlying the practice of mathematics teachers in transition, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 35 (5), 579-601
Spillane,J.P. 1999, External reform initiatives and teachers' efforts to reconstruct their practice: the mediating role of teachers' zones of enactment. Journal of Curriculum Studies. 31(2)143-175.
Judy Sayers
Senior Lecturer of Mathematics Education, University College Northampton
Primary Mathematics and the Developing Professional
Multiple Perspectives on Attainment in Numeracy
Eds: Millet, A., Brown, M., Askew. M. Kluwer
1402019149
March 2004
Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers
£70/€110
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