Instrumental and relational understanding: What influences secondary student teachers’ teaching approaches?

Abstract

This small-scale study of secondary maths PGCE student teachers used a range of calculation problems to explore their preferred method for solving problems for themselves, and for supporting pupils. Data gathered included written jottings of their calculations, identified strategies used in the classroom, and follow-up interviews to explore their approaches. Analysis used the I and S-Rationale framework (Herheim, 2023) to explore how they came to decisions about their proposed teaching approach in their classrooms. Results show that although they could identify a range of approaches to support long division and multiplication of decimals, a narrow procedural approach dominated responses to a division of fractions problem, both for themselves and for their teaching. Further time and space is needed to explore what might be possible for student teachers on a one-year postgraduate programme, to build their confidence and understanding, to encourage their pupils to have an S-Rationale approach to learning.