Collaboration and Leadership: Promoting Collaborative Leadership Skills With Preservice Mathematics Teachers

• In Event: Supporting Preservice Science and Mathematics Teacher Learning

Abstract

In a Teacher Education program in Ontario, Canada, pre-service elementary teachers participate in a course designed to foster a collaborative learning experience where they co-lead a project to execute a school wide plan for teaching mathematics across six grades. The data were collected using focus group interviews, an online questionnaire and the course assignments. Guided by enactivism (Valera et al., 1993) we analyse the data under a mixed methods approach. The findings revealed an emergent mathematical community of teacher candidates supported the conditions of internal diversity, redundancy, decentralized control and neighbouring actions (Davis & Simmt, 2006). The evolving leadership skills and how the course experience enhanced knowledge sharing, improved teaching practice by distributing leadership and personal growth are discussed.

Authors

• Sheliza Ibrahim, University of Toronto Mississauga

• Anjali Khirwadkar, Brock University

• Joyce Mgombelo, Brock University