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What is not discussed in department meetings
Our position as researchers allowed us to see that some contentious issues might be glossed over in meetings for the sake of team comfort (see section on individual subject knowledge). We wonder how students' learning might improve if teachers could discuss openly differences of mathematical knowledge, different views on learning, different judgements about students' capabilities and so on. But this remark must be seen in the context that these teams were already far more focused on discussing how to teach better than many other departments.
- some teachers nearly always talk about how students think; others talk of what they will know. Similarly some teachers in all schools anticipate what kids might do, rather than what they might learn. For example, one teacher said: '...I am wondering how I can get them to think about the meaning of the second decimal place...' and another said: '...can they remember that this is hundredths?...'. The second question could be answered by telling and using memory aids, whereas the first needs conceptual images and understanding. In none of the schools was this difference explicitly recognised or explored.
- some teachers made claims about their students' limitations, but these were not challenged publicly. For example, one teacher stated that a certain game was too hard for her students, but no one challenged this although others had used it with similar students.
- In a meeting, the HoD started by saying that they may have been too resource-led in their scheme of work decisions, and not enough driven by thinking about what students will learn. Throughout the meeting he mentioned this again a few times, but no teacher changed the way they talk about planning - they were still discussing resources at the end.
