Teaching Them Properly: Transforming Professional Identities in Pitjantjatjara Mathematics Education

Resumo

Improving mathematics education for Indigenous language speaking students requires Indigenous educators, resources, and teaching in students' first languages. This paper examines the professional learning of two Pitjantjatjara speaking Assistant Teachers at a remote central Australian school with a longstanding bilingual program. The study investigates how they are moving from support roles alongside non-Indigenous teachers to leading mathematics instruction, a shift framed as professional identity transformation. Professional learning activities included targeted workshops, collaborative planning, classroom enactment, and participation in wider professional communities through presenting at conferences. The paper analyses these experiences using the framework of identity resources--material, ideational, and relational. Material and ideational resources, such as mathematics terminology in Pitjantjatjara and lesson scripts, supported the Assistant Teachers' early teaching. However, the most powerful enablers of transformation were relational resources: collaboration with Elders, affirmation from the community, and recognition from external professional audiences. These relationships helped legitimise the Assistant Teachers' authority as mathematics educators and enabled them to describe themselves as "ma-nintiningi" "teaching them properly", while positioning their students as "ma-nintiringanyi" "properly learning". The case demonstrates how professional learning that centres Indigenous voices, languages, and collective knowledge-building can strengthen teacher identity, transform classroom practice, and expand students' opportunities for meaningful mathematics learning.

Dados da obra

Tipo

Artigo

Periódico

Educational Studies in Mathematics, v. 121, n. 3, p. 549-569

Editora

Springer Science+Business Media

Ano

2026 (2026-01-10)

Idioma

en

Palavras-chave

Indigenous Populations; Languages; Foreign Countries; Mathematics Education; Professional Development; Professional Identity; Teacher Aides; Indigenous Knowledge; indigenous mathematics education; assistant teachers; indigenous teachers; bilingual education; professional learning; older adults; mathematical terminology; remote schools; Central Australia

Temas

Formação de Professores de Matemática, Práticas Pedagógicas

DOI

10.1007/s10649-025-10461-6

ISSN

0013-1954, 1573-0816

Licença

cc-by-nc-nd

Acesso

Acesso aberto

Fontes

ERIC — Education Resources Information Center; OpenAlex

Na Biblioteca desde

01/10/2026 · verificada em 03/10/2026