ABSTRACT
To understand teacher learning as situative concept development, we describe the subject-world relations between teachers-as-learners and teaching-as-knowledge. We first illustrate our conceptual change perspective on teacher learning by discussing key findings in mathematics education research about different conceptions about mathematics teaching and learning. Then, we synthesize prior work on teacher learning and the sociology of teachers' work to argue that teachers' relationship to what they are learning is socially embedded, ambiguous, and contested. We narrate these as premises and corollaries: The Action Premise (action has greater currency than understanding) and Alignment Corollary (teachers are more likely to develop institutionally-aligned actions); the Interpretation Premise (actions are shaped by interpretations); the Utility Premise (teachers revise understandings once they no longer support productive action) and the Smoothness Corollary (lesson smoothness provides limited feedback for teacher learning); the Asynchronicity of Reflection Premise (deliberately revising understandings and planning new actions happens primarily outside of active instruction); and the Competing Visions of Quality Premise (teachers must navigate multiple messages about “good” teaching).
