3351

Margaret Walshaw and Roger Openshaw

philosophy of mathematics education

2014

28

mathematics teacher , girls and women , New Zealand , New Scheme

In this paper we explore the ways in which meanings of the female mathematics teacher are subjectively and collectively constructed, legitimated and challenged. Our context is New Zealand during the 1950s. We use history to explore female mathematics teacher constructions by looking at the genesis, development, and outcome of an initiative of the New Zealand Department of Education. The Science and Mathematics New Scheme, conceived in 1957 and introduced early in the following year, represented a sustained attempt on the part of the government to attract young women into the teaching profession as a way of managing a crisis in teacher supply. Our historical analysis offers a lens through which to view the production of and challenges to gender knowledge during a time of political and social ambiguity towards professional women