(Auto)Biographical Narratives and the Professional Development of Mathematics Teachers who Teach Probability and Statistics

Abstract

Background: Investigating narratives from the (auto)biographical perspective has expanded the possibilities of research in mathematics education, in the personal and professional aspects of the individuals and their choices during professional development. Objectives: This article aims to analyse (auto)biographical narratives of mathematics teachers who teach stochastics in basic education and their teacher professional development processes. Design: It is qualitative research, from the (auto)biographical perspective. Setting and Participants: The lexical corpus is composed of ten narratives by teachers from the states of São Paulo and Espírito Santo, Brazil, participants of a continuing education course offered in a virtual learning environment. Data collection and analysis: For the textual and lexical analysis of the content, the IRaMuTeQ software and its respective analysis resources were used: word cloud technique, similarity analysis and the descending hierarchical classification (DHC). Results: From this analysis, four thematic categories emerged: initial education, professional challenges, school practice, and continuing education. Conclusions: We concluded that school practice is directly related to initial education and the challenges the mathematics teacher faces. Second, only by reflecting on their practices can the teacher be convinced of their need for updating in continuing education.