The Use of Action Research for the Professionalisation of Beginning Women Teachers as They Learn about Inclusive Mathematics

Abstract

This paper reports on a project that aimed to assist the induction of three women teachers into the practice of mathematics teaching. In their first year of teaching the three teachers were located in schools at great distances from the normal support structures for the teachers. Further, the schools consisted of student populations with wide diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, not familiar to the teachers. The project had the following characteristics: Firstly, it employed the formation of an action research network. Secondly, it targeted the concern of the teachers on how to make mathematics more inclusive for children from a variety of backgrounds. Thirdly, it bridged the divide in jurisdiction between the responsibility of the university for preservice training and the responsibility of the school and the employment departments for induction and inservice professional learning. This paper discusses the procedures adopted in the project and the outcomes in teachers’ learning and professionalisation.