Mathematics Teachers' Beliefs about Teaching andLearning

An understanding of the complexity of teachers' espoused and enacted beliefs is of paramount importance in attempting to transform current transmission-oriented teaching practices. Taking into consideration the recent interest expressed by the mathematics education community in the importance of values in teaching, and on their interrelationship to belief systems, such an understanding may constitute the motivation for future reforms. This book provides a typology of mathematics teacher's beliefs regarding mathematics, mathematics teaching, learning and assessment, an investigation of inconsistencies between those beliefs and their instructional practice, and the impact various cultural aspects have on teachers' beliefs. The findings indicate that the broad social and cultural climate within the classroom appears to impact significantly on teachers' beliefs about mathematics, and mathematics learning, teaching and assessment. The findings of the study will be of value to in-service and pre-service mathematics teachers, school principals, policy makers, curriculum developers, teacher educators and researchers.