Learning to teach with mandated curriculum and public examination of teaching as contexts

This case study explores how a, Chinese beginning teacher developed her professional knowledge of mathematics instruction under the influences of a mandated curriculum and a contrived teaching organization. It finds that the teacher was able to develop a mathematics lesson that engaged students in discovering mathematics ideas and making sense of their relationships and her way of teaching was influenced directly and indirectly by the nature of the mandated curriculum and teaching organization in the context of her work. Her exploration of the mandated curriculum individually and With her colleagues contributed to her understanding about mathematics concepts and their representations. Other teachers' systematic observations and discussions about her teaching with a focus on pedagogical content knowledge helped her develop and refine her teaching strategies. Such a focus was again shaped by the ways in which the mandated curriculum and teaching organization are structured. Some shared concepts in mandated curriculum and the teachers' working language mediated her understanding of the curriculum and other teachers' examinations about her instruction. The study indicates that the ways in which the mandated curriculum is structured and teachers are organized may help teachers develop the necessary professional knowledge for teaching. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.