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It is indicated that research on professional development programmes (PDPs) for mathematics teachers mostly concerns whether a programme affects the teachers’ practice or student learning, while the teachers’ learning is treated as a black box. Calls have been made for a shared body of knowledge on teachers’ professional learning and what supports such learning. In this article, 84 articles from mathematics education journals are examined with respect to facilities and catalysts for teacher learning from PDPs for mathematics teachers. Two main types of PDPs were identified—those that target teacher knowledge growth and those that target changed instruction—and it was determined that the types of facilities for catalysing learning linked to them differ. Typical of PDPs targeting teacher knowledge growth is that they emphasise knowledge of content and teaching, knowledge of content and students and specialised content knowledge; following insight and/or body of knowledge as facilities for catalysing the learning. Typical of PDPs targeting changed instruction is that they use more time and have a larger time span than PDPs targeting teacher knowledge growth, emphasise knowledge of content and teaching; and follow strategies by doing/experimenting when establishing them in the classroom as facilities for catalysing the learning.

We examine the effects of a year-long national-scale professional development (PD) program on mathematics instructional quality. In contrast to previous studies examining the effects of this program on instruction by comparing before and after participation or participants and non-participants, we examine whether instructional quality changed during the program. More specifically, we conduct an analysis of 174 video-recorded mathematics lessons given by 52 teachers during their year of participation. Contrary to previous studies, the results demonstrate that the instructional quality did not improve over the course of the PD. We suggest that the explanations for the diverging results concern how, when, and to what extent instructional quality changes in PD programs. Specifically, we discuss how the explanations may illuminate the significance of PD duration for PD effects, and how these effects may be mediated by features concerning the PD content and the scale at which the program is implemented.

When the perception changes regarding what mathematics students should be able to manage, this is typically addressed through a new national curriculum. To establish and implement this new curriculum in practice, teachers must be given the opportunity to change according to it. For such change, they need support in interpreting and implementing the new curriculum. Typically, there are two common ways to support teacher change: (1) developing and launching curriculum materials that correspond to the national curriculum; and (2) implementing professional development programmes (PDPs) that correspond to the new national curriculum. This thesis includes both aspects and aims to contribute to research on support for mathematics teachers’ change. This aim is operationalized by: (1) studying mathematics textbooks in which tasks and plausible teaching intentions are analysed; (2) studying teacher agency in collegial discussions in relation to the design of a PDP; and (3) mapping and describing catalysts for teacher learning from PDPs in research literature. These studies resulted in five papers, which are included in this thesis. The main results of the papers cover: the distribution of types of tasks in Swedish mathematics textbooks; the type of learning approach advocated in these textbooks; how different types of texts in PDPs relate to teacher agency in collegial discussions; and an identification and description of catalysts for teacher learning from PDPs for mathematics teachers. In the kappa¹ of this thesis, these results are merged and discussed in relation to different models of teacher change. The focus in the kappa is on examining catalysts for teacher learning from such initiatives and the role of the teacher in PDPs. This examination suggests elaborations on parts of a conceptual framework for effective PDPs (Desimone, 2009). More precisely, the elaborations concern core critical features for effective PDPs, presented in this framework: Content Focus, Active Learning, Collective Participation, Duration, and Coherence. The main contributions of this thesis concern: a tool for analysing tasks in textbooks with respect to problem-solving tasks; an organizing frame for mapping learning catalysts from articles describing PDPs; a description of catalysts for teacher learning from PDPs as specifications of core critical features for effective PDPs; and the role of the teacher in PDPs as a catalyst for learning. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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¹The Swedish term kappa will be used in this thesis in the absence of an equivalent English term for the introductory chapters of an aggregation dissertation

This article offers insight into teacher agency in professional development programmes, focusing on a national policy initiative in Sweden aiming to provide in-depth professional development for mathematics teachers. Data was produced from video observations from two collegial discussions with one group of teachers, during the professional development programme. We closely analyse forms of agency in the collegial discussions in relation to the affordances of the professional development materials. The analysis shows a complex relationship between possibilities for independent judgement as constructed in curriculum materials, teachers' agency, and the coach's role in collegial discussions. Contrary to previous research, the findings indicate that opportunities for facilitating enactment in professional development materials do not necessarily lead to teacher agency. The results of the study are discussed in relation to the Swedish educational context. ©

In their claim that teachers’ learning is treated as a “black box” in research on

professional development programs for mathematics teachers, Goldsmith, Doerr,

& Lewis (2014) call for “an organizing framework that clearly distinguishes

dimensions of teachers’ learning and identifies catalysts of teachers’ learning…”

(p. 23). The aim of this study is to present initial efforts to construct a framework

for categorizing descriptions of activities designed to support teachers’ learning

as presented in research articles within mathematics education. Based on existing

literature on professional development and examination of research articles, an

organizing frame is constructed.

The aim of this study is to analyse how mathematical problem solving is represented in mathematical textbooks for Swedish upper secondary school. The analysis comprises dominating Swedish textbook series, and relates to uncovering (a) the quantity of tasks that are actually mathematical problems, (b) their location in the chapter, (c) their difficulty level, and (d) their context. Based on an analysis of 5,722 tasks from the area of calculus, it is concluded that the textbooks themselves contain very few tasks that can be defined as mathematical problems, and that those that are mathematical problems are found at the end of a chapter at the most difficult level, and are presented in a pure mathematical context. Implications are discussed.

The aim of this study is to analyse how mathematical problem solving (MPS) is represented in mathematical textbooks for Swedish upper secondary school. The analysis comprises dominating Swedish textbook series, and relates to uncovering a) the quantity of tasks that are actually mathematical problems (MPs), b) their location in the chapter, c) their difficulty level, and d) their context. Based on an analysis of 5,722 tasks from the area of calculus, it is concluded that the textbooks themselves contain very few tasks that can be defined as MPs, and that those that are MPs are found at the end of a chapter at the most difficult level, and are presented in a pure mathematical context. Implications are discussed.

In their review, Goldsmith, Doerr and Lewis (2014) note that research on professional development programmes (PDPs) for mathematics teachers mostly concerns whether a programme has affected the teachers’ practice or student learning, while the teachers’ learning is treated as a black box. In light of this, they call for a ‘… shared body of knowledge about the nature of teachers’ learning and the catalysts that support it’ (p. 25). In this article, we examine and map 64 articles from mathematics education journals with respect to prerequisites for learning. From this mapping, we identify and describe catalysts for teacher learning from PDPs for mathematics teachers. These learning catalysts are then used to characterize two different types PDPs, based on which learning catalysts are used in them. Typical of PDPs targeting increased teacher knowledge is that they: emphasize knowledge of content and teaching and knowledge of content and students; manage this content through cooperation; and promote insight and/or body of knowledge as catalysts for learning. Typical of PDPs targeting changed instruction is that they: emphasize knowledge of content and teaching as well as following strategies by doing/experimenting when establishing it in the classroom as a catalyst for learning. Conclusions and implications are discussed.