The Discourse of Specific Mathematics for Teaching and the Production of the 'Mathematics-Teacher' Subject

Abstract:

This theoretical essay aimed to identify subject positions afforded by the discourse of specific mathematics for teaching. The study is anchored in Foucault's work and the existing literature on Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, the Specialized Knowledge of Mathematics Teachers, and Mathematics for Teaching. We have organized these discourses into two groups, cognitive-representational discourses and socio-discursive discourses, and identified different subject positions afforded by either category. The identified subject positions call for a Mathematics-teacher subject: dialectically, a subject who feeds on theory and refines his or her practice, based on an epistemology of practice; and a subject who establishes himself or herself piece by piece daily, and it is not possible to demarcate practical situations that were not theoretical as well.

Keywords:
Mathematics teaching; Discourse; Teacher-subject; Theory-practice relationship