Identity development and changes in the teaching and learning practices of Mathematics teachers enrolled in a professional master´s degree

Abstract

This research project is situated in the field of Mathematics teachers' education and is focused on a special formative space: the professional master's degrees. Nowadays, the professional master's degrees constitute an important and varied formative possibility for teachers in general, and for Mathematics teachers, in particular. The research considers that producing changes in the teaching practices is a complex and non-linear process that usually involves the development of new ways of being in the teaching profession. From this perspective, the aim of the research project is to analyze the contributions that the participation in a professional master's degree can bring to the development of the professional identity and to the transformation of the teaching and learning practices of Mathematics teachers. The research adopts a qualitative methodology inside the interpretative paradigm and it is organized in three phases. The first phase aims at describing in deep four professional master's degrees established at the São Paulo State, considering their different curricular structures, goals, and objectives. The first phase also involves a general analysis of the graduated students' experiences inside each master's degree. The second phase is focused on the development of four case studies centered on the experiences of Mathematics teachers graduated from different professional master's degrees. The third phase aims at formulating a set of working hypotheses related with the ways in which the different organizational structures of the master's degrees and the different activities carried out inside them can contribute to the development of the teachers' identity and to the production of changes in their teaching and learning practices in the school. (AU)