Imagining possibilities: innovating mathematics (teacher) education for sustainable futures

Abstract

We report on an action research study conducted by two mathematics teacher educators in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. The project consisted of three phases, the first two taking place in our respective teacher education courses and a final phase in which prospective mathematics teachers from both locations engaged in dialogue through a speculative fiction task. Our aim was to explore how our prospective mathematics teachers can be supported in becoming mathematics teachers for sustainable futures by innovating our own mathematics teacher education curricula. This study suggests that generative methods which support teachers in speculating on paths to potential futures as teachers of mathematics, can provide access to how prospective teachers negotiate issues in relation to the climate crisis and ways in which they conceive of related changes in their practices. By identifying the aspects of mathematics teaching that are viewed by the prospective teachers as contingent, and through offering tasks that support an expansion of this view, teacher educators are better placed to support the development of teaching practices needed for sustainable futures.