Beginning a pre-service teacher's mathematical identity work through narrative rehabilitation and bibliotherapy

Abstract

In our study, we face two challenges. First, a negative view of mathematics is a widespread phenomenon among pre-service elementary teachers. Therefore, teacher education programs should find a way to handle this phenomenon. Second, we see that identity work in the domain of mathematics education needs to be conceptualized more. Here, we apply an interactionist framework and describe narrative rehabilitation and bibliotherapy as tools for handling pre-service teachers' negative experiences from their school years. Through Ulla's case, we explicate how narratives as tools enhanced her view of mathematics and her teaching practice. Furthermore, through her mathematical biography we conceptualize mathematical identity work.

Keywords:

• identity work
• narrative rehabilitation
• bibliotherapy
• mathematics education
• teacher education

Notes

1. The first author conducted interviews with 19 pre-service teachers for her dissertation. Six of the students were from the Faculty of Education at the University of Lapland in Finland and the other from faculty of Education at the University of Maribor, Slovenia. All students had negative experiences about learning mathematics during their own schooling. Here, we describe one of the 19 cases.