Student teachers’ conceptions and experiences of pedagogical practices in mathematics education in teacher training colleges in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Conceptions about mathematics are crucial as they are conscious formations that convey personal meanings towards mathematics. They are critical for teaching and learning and need to be addressed in teacher education. Many student teachers who enter teacher education struggle to pass the national O level mathematics examinations, sitting at least twice to gain entry into teacher training. Such experiences may shape their conceptions regarding mathematics, and consequently influence learning and teaching of mathematics when they qualify as teachers. This study sought to understand student teachers’ conceptions of and experiences during mathematics pedagogical practices in mathematics education in teacher training. It was those student teachers who struggled to pass O level mathematics to gain entry into teacher training colleges in Zimbabwe who were investigated in this study. This qualitative study was located in the interpretive paradigm, and adopted a multiple-site case design where data were generated from 40 student teachers and four lecturers. Sampling of participants involved convenience and purposive selection for student teachers and self-selection for lecturers. A questionnaire served as the springboard to determine the number of sittings for purposive sampling of the student teachers and data were generated through focus group discussions, individual face-to-face interviews and lecture observations. Data analysis employed manual, eight-step open coding. Theoretical frameworks: Conceptions about mathematics (Dionne 1984) and Socio-constructivist theory (Vygotsky 1978; Kim 2001) guided the study. Findings showed that the student teachers held traditionalistic conceptions about mathematics, but conceived interactive, student-centred pedagogies as crucial during mathematics pedagogical practices. However, student teachers across the four colleges explored were only exposed to the lecture method where there was no student engagement during mathematics pedagogical practices, and only experienced interactive strategies in research. Drawing on the conceptions theory, I argue that student teachers were exposed to traditionalist classrooms (Dionne 1984) where they passively received mathematical knowledge during pedagogical practices. Findings also revealed that these student teachers who struggled to pass mathematics at O level were exposed more to pedagogical knowledge than to mathematics content knowledge which they needed. Private colleges were grossly structurally and materially under-resourced and students did not experience use of technology during lectures. The student teachers explored, who struggled to pass O level mathematics to enter teacher education still struggled with the subject in teacher training. Their conceptions and prior experiences strongly influenced their cognitive and behavioural engagement during mathematics pedagogical practices. They feared mathematics and only studied it because they had to, given that primary school teachers were required to teach all curriculum subjects to the primary school child. The student teachers viewed mathematics as a difficult subject, meant for ‘a select few’. The study recommends bridging programmes for student teachers who struggled to pass mathematics at O level to enter teacher education, and adoption of constructivist pedagogies with active ‘noisy’ classrooms in mathematics education, contrary to the dominant lecture method. The study further recommends provision of adequate physical and material resources in private colleges to ensure student comfort, and enhance learning effectiveness and engagement, during mathematics pedagogical practices. In relation to the theoretical framework (Dionne 1984) my argument is that the framework provides a useful generic, analytical tool for thinking through conceptions about mathematics in pedagogical practices in mathematics education. However, on its own it does not provide a complete lens to make sense of the variations in students teachers’ learning experiences. The thesis therefore argues for an additive model to Dionne’s conceptions theory that may expand the framework and deepen its applicability specifically, in trying to understand issues around student teacher conceptions and experiences during pedagogical practices in mathematics education. The thesis therefore suggests the need for more studies, drawing on the framework and developing it to determine its applicability beyond this particular inquiry.