'Excellent' primary mathematics teachers' espoused and enacted values of effective lessons

This paper reports a study that explored the characteristics of mathematics lessons that were espoused as effective by six 'excellent' mathematics teachers and how they enacted their values in their classroom practice. In this study, we define espoused values as values that we want other people to believe we hold, and enacted values as values that we actually practice. Qualitative data were collected through video-recorded lesson observations (3 lessons for each teacher) and in-depth interviews with teachers after each observation. At the end of the project, stimulated-recall focus group interviews were used to allow teachers to define the meaning of an effective mathematics lesson as well as to recall and reflect on a 10-min edited video clip of one of their teaching lessons. The findings showed that these teachers shared five common characteristics of effective mathematics lessons: achieving teaching objectives; pupils' cognitive development; affective achievement of pupils; focus on low-attaining pupils; and active participation of pupils in mathematics activities. These values were espoused explicitly as well as enacted in the lessons observed.