Out-of-field teaching refers to the practice of assigning teachers to teach subjects that do not match their training or education. This paper reports on a study evaluating the impact of a national professional development programme for out-of-field teachers of post-primary school mathematics in Ireland -- the Professional Diploma in Mathematics…

This special issue introduces recent research on mathematics in interdisciplinary STEM education. STEM education is widely promoted by governments around the world as a way of boosting students' interest and achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and preparing STEM-qualified workers for twenty-first century careers.…

In this article, Merrilyn Goos looks at beliefs about the nature of mathematics and perceptions of mathematics teachers in examining "why teachers matter." It is difficult for researchers to specify exactly how different types of teaching and teacher qualities affect student achievement because this would require untangling the…

This article examines possibilities for using Valsiner's zone theory to understand identity formation of mathematics teachers and mathematics teacher educators. We situate our analysis within a sociological frame for identity research, in which identity is interpreted as an action rather than an acquisition. Valsiner's theoretical approach is…

The pre-service teacher followed in this paper aimed to act as an agent of change during a time of reform in Irish secondary mathematics education. A teacher-researcher led action research project was conducted to depict the reality of the situation regarding the implementation of mathematical problem solving from a variety of perspectives-namely…

The knowledge that mathematics teacher educators need has attracted limited but increasing attention in recent years. The papers in this special issue build on emerging themes from that work and raise additional questions that contribute towards a future research agenda in the field. Several of the articles develop conceptualisations of teacher…

In times of rapid technological innovation and global challenges, the development of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) competencies becomes important. They improve the personal scientific literacy of citizens, enhance international economic competitiveness and are an essential foundation for responsible citizenship, including…

In many countries, pre-service teacher education programs are structured so that mathematics content is taught in the university's mathematics department and mathematics pedagogy in the education department. Such program structures make it difficult to authentically interweave content with pedagogy in ways that acknowledge the roles of both…

"Out-of-field" teaching refers to the practice of assigning secondary school teachers to teach subjects that do not match their training or education. This practice is an issue of concern in many countries around the world, and seems particularly prevalent in the teaching of mathematics. The aim of this paper is to analyse the design…

Education research journals regularly report on small-scale studies that have been successful in changing mathematics teachers' classroom practices. But it is rare to find professional development programs for teachers of mathematics that have been scaled up and sustained over time. This article reports on a research-informed, large-scale…

Mathematics anxiety is a significant barrier to mathematical learning. In this article, we propose that state or on-task mathematics anxiety impacts on performance, while trait mathematics anxiety leads to the avoidance of courses and careers involving mathematics. We also demonstrate that integrating perspectives from education, psychology and…

At the special conference celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT), the author was asked to speak about the challenges and opportunities in teaching mathematics as a stimulus for discussion of AAMT's "future directions". With an open invitation to be a little provocative, the author…

This paper presents a model of numeracy that integrates the use of digital technologies among other elements of teaching and learning mathematics. Drawing on data from a school-based project, which includes records of classroom observations, semi-structured teacher interviews and artefacts such as student work samples, a classroom-based vignette…

In this paper, we offer a comparative review of research on understanding and promoting students' mathematical thinking. The sources for the review are papers that were published in "Educational Studies in Mathematics" ("ESM") during two windows of time: 1994-1998 and 2014-2018. Selection of these two time periods enables us to…

This article discusses key issues surrounding the nature and development of professional knowledge for effective teaching of mathematics, especially at the secondary school level. In the education research community it is generally accepted that teachers need more than knowledge of the content they will teach; an additional construct, pedagogical…