Values in Mathematics Teaching — The Hidden Persuaders?

Abstract

Values are at the heart of teaching any subject, but are rarely explicitly addressed in the mathematics teaching literature. In particular, research on values in mathematics education is sadly neglected. This chapter addresses these gaps by drawing together the various research and theoretical fields that bear upon the values dimension of mathematics education. It begins with a theoretical reflection on the distinctions between values, beliefs and attitudes, and continues with reviewing the literature relating teachers' values to their decisions and actions in the classroom. Moving to the limited research on values in mathematics education, there is discussion of values in the increasingly researched area of socio-cultural aspects of mathematics education. The second half of the chapter is devoted to issues regarding research approaches to studying values in our field, and presents two projects, one based in Monash University, Australia and the other at the National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei. The first project focused on the relationship between teachers' intended and implemented values, and the second explored teachers' values as constituting their pedagogical identities. Implications of this research for teachers' professional development are drawn, and the chapter finishes by outlining the research difficulties inherent in this area, and offers a set of challenges designed to carry the research agenda forward.