Evolving a community of practice to enhance the pre-service experience of mathematics teachers

Abstract

Secondary mathematics teachers are in short supply and this problem is exacerbated by attrition. A recent review of research on early career teachers (Buchanan et al., 2013) confirms that somewhere between 20% and 40% of teachers have contemplated leaving the profession at some stage in their first five years. Real and perceived isolation and the level of collegial support were amongst the main contributing factors. Thus, a specific goal of the Inspiring Mathematics and Science in Teacher Education (IMSITE, 2014) project undertaken at the University of Sydney is increasing social and academic networks amongst undergraduate pre-service teachers.