Challenging Teacher Perceptions of Student Capabilities

• In Event: Joining the Pieces of the Tivaevae to Enact Strength-Based Mathematics Learning for Pasifika Students in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

Teacher views of student capabilities are crucial to support reforms for underserved students (Wilhelm et al., 2017). The prevalence of teacher deficit-oriented views of Pāsifika students and their families and communities (Hunter et al., 2016; Turner et al., 2015) constrain student opportunities to engage in the mathematics classroom. A strength-based professional development approach can and must provide learning experiences that support teachers’ reframing of student capabilities.
Drawing on the lens of problem framing (Bannister, 2015) we conceptualise teachers’ views along two axes (a) diagnostic—identification of a problem and the attribution of blame, and (b) prognostic—a proposed solution to the problem that specifies what needs to be done. These frames can provide evidence of changes in teachers’ participation and reification patterns over time. Applying a sociocultural framework, teacher change is promoted through the experience of authentic tensions based on actual, personal classroom experiences, the willingness to take ownership of the change, and the acceptance of a degree of uncertainty.
Situated in the Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities project [DMIC], teacher interviews at the beginning, middle, and end of the first year, at one school, provide exemplars of how teacher resolution of authentic tensions evidence shifts in framing. Thematic analysis was used to explore causal explanations for changes. MaUa-Hodges’ (2000) Cook Island tivaevae model also linked the learning process to values of collaboration, respect, reciprocity, relationships, and shared vision.
Positive shifts in framing of students were occasioned through learning experiences that helped teachers understand the reasons behind their students’ struggle. These included a press to develop awareness of students’ cultural background and interests and integrate this new knowledge within the mathematics task elements; the use of heterogeneous student groupings and challenging open-ended tasks. The development of teacher inquiry stance, supported by Pāsifika values embedded within mentoring and collaborative planning and teaching, afforded teachers opportunities to notice and value student thinking and revise their expectations.
This paper contributes to understanding how professional learning experiences can challenge deficit thinking Perceptions of student capability play out in achievement expectations, assignment to groups, differential feedback, opportunities to engage with challenging tasks and mathematical discourse, and mathematical identity. Teachers’ social constructions of students, particularly their views of who is capable of engaging in rigorous forms of mathematical activity, is critical to transforming the experience of Pāsifika students in the mathematics classroom.

Author

• Glenda Anthony, Massey University