Changing teacher practices: a "slow burn" or rapid with "big shifts"

This paper focuses on the time teachers take to adapt to a student-centred inquiry approach to teaching mathematics, the nature of those changes and the reasons for variations in both these aspects among teachers within and across schools. Five numeracy experts, who worked with 200 Foundation to Year 2 teachers to facilitate the implementation of the approach, were individually interviewed at the end of the year to obtain their perspectives on teachers’ adaptation. Thematic analysis of the data revealed two overarching themes—context and teacher agency. The findings reinforce recommendations that professional learning providers acknowledge and take account of individual teacher learning trajectories to maximise potential change in practices.