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Trial lecture
What is good teaching in mathematics and how do we know?
Adjudication committee
- 1st opponent Associate Professor Julie Cohen, University of Virginia, USA
- 2nd opponent Associate Professor Janne Fauskanger, University of Stavanger
- Committee Chair Professor Marianne Ødegaard, University of Oslo
Chair of defence
Professor Andreas Lund, University of Oslo
Supervisors
- Professor Kirsti Klette, University of Oslo
- Professor Marte Blikstad-Balas, University of Oslo
Summary
This thesis comprises three articles and is situated in the field of cross-national observation research on instructional quality in mathematics education. It investigates patterns of instructional quality in lower secondary mathematics classrooms in Finnish-Swedish and Norwegian contexts (Helsinki and Oslo areas). The overarching research question is: How can patterns of instructional quality be understood through observation systems and teachers’ perspectives? It investigates this phenomenon from three different perspectives; as observed by a standardized observation system; from two Finnish teachers’ perspectives on their own discourse practices; and from a critical perspective of possible biases in observation systems when applied in and across different classroom contexts.
Article Ⅰ investigates instructional quality in 16 Finnish and Norwegian lower secondary mathematics classrooms, comprising 47 video-recorded lessons using a standardized observation system. Central findings point to distinct patterns of instructional quality across these contexts, with an individualized and content-focused mathematics instruction in Helsinki and more varied and student-engaging practices in Oslo classrooms. Article Ⅱ investigates two Finnish mathematics teachers’ instructional rationales for differently enacted discourse practices in 9th grade classrooms using video and interview data. Central findings are that while the two teachers enacted very different discourse practices, they rationalized their practices with similar concerns for student learning, wellbeing and equity. Article Ⅲ investigates possible biases in standardized observation systems capturing instructional quality when applied in Nordic lower secondary mathematics classrooms. This is a theoretical and methodological contribution using empirical examples from 47 video-recorded lessons illustrating how contextual factors such as lesson structure may have consequences for the results.
The findings together contribute with knowledge of typical features of mathematics instruction in these two contexts as well as how patterns of instructional quality may be understood from the perspectives of teachers and observation systems.