A professional experience learning community for pre-service secondary mathematics teachers

Abstract

This paper reports the development and implementation of a collaborative professional experience learning community for a group of nine pre-service secondary mathematics teachers. The preservice teachers and their methods lecturer made 12 school visits over one academic year to a local secondary school. The pre-service teachers observed and co-taught problem-solving lessons in two Year 8 classes. They discussed the lessons with the teacher and the university lecturer, and later posted reflective comments to an online forum. Data from questionnaires, interviews, and reflections indicate that participation in the learning community helped pre-service teachers make stronger links between theory and practice, learn from each other, and become more reflective about problem-solving teaching approaches.