Pre-Service Teachers Constructing Positive Mathematical Identities: Positing a Grounded Theory Approach

Overview & Synopsis

Mathematics anxiety in pre-service primary teachers is an important issue in teacher education. This leads to the question of how pre-service primary teachers with mathematics anxiety perceive their mathematical identities. The paper explores the potential to develop a research-based model to identify the process whereby pre-service primary teachers with mathematics anxiety could develop more positive identities as learners and potential teachers of mathematics. It indicates emerging themes from previous research using subsequent preliminary data analysis and argues that a grounded theory approach to building a theoretical model for this process would make a valuable contribution to teacher education. [For the complete proceedings, "Shaping the Future of Mathematics Education. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (33rd, Freemantle, Western Australia, Australia, July 3-7, 2010)," see ED520764.]