However, our chief aim here is to capture elements of the developmental process and the
synergy between theory and development.
3.1 Process of interpretative analysis drawing on various data sources
The case consists of the inception, preparation and teaching of three lessons at Dronningens
Upper Secondary School by a team of three teachers (Osvald, Kristin and Mari) and
subsequent stages of reflection. Three didacticians (from the team of 12) were principally
involved: Eli, the Project Director, Leo the liaison member for this school and Liv. In
Norway, students in upper secondary school (Grades 11–13) are typically aged 16–19 years.
Teachers at this level are usually well-qualified, generally to masters’ level in their specialist
subject (here mathematics). In the following, translations from the original Norwegian are
marked (T); otherwise the original English is used. Hesitations and undue repetition have
been removed to improve readability. All names (teachers, didacticians and school) are
pseudonyms. The events that contribute to this case occurred over the course of 1 year at the
beginning of the project. The analysis draws on data generated from the point at which
didacticians visit the school to negotiate participation in the project. The final event included
in the case was a meeting of didacticians and teachers at the end of the first year in which
teachers were invited to reflect on their experiences in the project.
3.1.1 Interpretative analysis of data
We outline in this section our analytical process in reaching the narrative accounts that we
present in this article. In all cases, we start from data that relate to the insights we present. We
make interpretations based on this and other data and present an account that aims to make
sense in general and specific terms. We begin by referring to data generated from the first
workshop in which we analyse teacher Osvald’s words. He reported back, in a plenary
session, on the discussion he had with colleagues in a small group at the workshop
concerning a lesson that he and his colleagues hoped to design.
Osvald: [In the small group] we talked about when we shall start up … so we
thought we would plan a topic, a starting point, a topic that we will present to
the pupils. And in contrast to picking out an interesting topic that we shall
teach, we picked out something we thought was boring (laughter). So we
thought we should make a lesson which would make it more exciting and we
thought of something for the lowest grade [three classes at grade 11] in school
and we have linear functions and straight lines that we think was a boring topic
to present. We shall open with this. (T)
Here Osvald is reporting back from the small group discussions that he and his own
school colleagues have had earlier in the workshop. He is aligned with the practice: He
chooses a topic within the syllabus, which his students (pupils) are expected to learn (and
other data reveal that he follows the textbook, he is concerned that students will not be
disadvantaged in their examinations). He is also aware that something might be improved,
and the issue upon which he and his colleagues choose to focus is a topic that is less
interesting to teach and learn.
Issues that we suggest to be considered here (square brackets indicate an increased level
of interpretation) are:
& Focus on the syllabus: what must be taught [established practice].
400 S. Goodchild et al.
& Challenge: Take a topic that is not interesting (to present); create a lesson that makes the
introduction more exciting. [Possibly a move towards more inquiry-based teaching (a
concept introduced in the project description and emphasized in the first workshop)].
& Take a mathematical topic for students in grade 11 and consider how students’ experience
might be modified. [Engagement in the project—to develop an alternative teaching
approach where possibly they see the existing one to be deficient.]
& Primary focus is on the development of students’ affective rather than cognitive experiences
(should not be “boring”). [Possibly, it is believed that this will lead to better
cognitive engagement, although this is not articulated.]
3.1.2 An interpretation of what is said, relating to other data sources
Concern with the curriculum is consistent with utterances by Osvald at other times, for
example, at an earlier point in the workshop, commenting on three investigative mathematical
tasks that had been used in small group activity he observed:
We have a text book … they’re nice problems, but take quite a lot of time. That’s the
problem if you have a strict syllabus (T)
two (of the three tasks presented) were more amusing … (the third task is) the most
applicable … set in the context of the syllabus (T)
Teachers are expected to align with the curriculum. By taking eleventh-grade classes,
they choose to try things out with the classes that are furthest from the high stakes
examination; this is further evidence of aligning with the structures and organization of
school. The teachers’ starting point here is to introduce inquiry approaches by developing or
adapting something from routine practice.
When choosing a topic to develop, the teachers decided to focus on something that they
wanted to be more exciting. The contrast between amusing (and exciting) tasks and
curriculum tasks fits with Osvald’s earlier comment about the three investigative mathematical
tasks presented earlier in the workshop. We also note that teachers share didacticians’
concern for students’ enjoyment, in addition to understanding and proficiency (see
Section 1).
About 2 months after the first workshop reported above, two didacticians (Eli and Leo)
visited Dronningens school to meet with the teachers and school principal to discuss the
school team’s engagement in the project. The teachers re-emphasised their wish to work on
the teaching of linear functions. Didacticians were pleased to get involved, so the meeting
consisted largely of a mathematical discussion, referring to textbooks, areas of difficulty for
students and ways in which the topic might be taught. The meeting closed with a request by
the teachers to come to the university to meet with didacticians for further informal planning
away from the pressures of school.
3.2 An inquiry cycle in teaching linear functions—planning
This section is a narrative account based on analysis of the requested informal planning
meeting, conducted in the style illustrated in Section 3.1 above. The meeting (involving
teachers Mari and Kristin and didacticians Leo and Liv) lasted about 3 h, and the discussion
spiralled, visiting and revisiting issues, with an embryonic lesson plan gradually emerging
(such as Engeström, 1994, describes when reporting on teachers’ collaborative planning).
Suggestions from didacticians, described below, opened up possibilities with which teachers
Critical alignment in inquiry-based practice 401
were eager to engage. In Wenger’s (1998) terms, it seemed that one didactician’s experiential
account, and a published idea, stimulated the teachers’ imagination so that they proceeded
by “extrapolating from (their) own experience” (p. 173). We see this as the beginnings of
teacher inquiry into their own practice.
3.2.1 Issues experienced as challenging by teachers
A challenge acknowledged by the teachers was that the first year syllabus at the upper
secondary school recapitulates work that students have experienced earlier. In their
classes, they have students who have not been successful in their prior experience
with a topic and others who have attained intended learning outcomes of the lower
secondary school syllabus. The result is that the first year syllabus is boring; all
students have met it before, and some are left unchallenged. Teachers wondered if
open-ended, inquiry tasks might hold the key to give all students a fresh and
challenging experience of the topic and mathematics. In this meeting, the teachers
also sought approaches that would address the problems of learning mathematics
which their students experience. They reported that students do not appear to make
links between related topics and find it difficult to take knowledge from one task
within a topic to another. It seems that the students do not form the desired (−by-theteacher)
understanding of the mathematics they are studying, and one of the teachers
said that she would like some tips on tasks that would help students understand better.
However, the teachers were also seeking approaches to introduce a topic that would
provide a foundation, not just for the one topic but for other related topics. Thus, they
sought an introduction to linear functions and straight lines that would support their
further experience in functions, solving equations graphically, regression lines of best
fit, etc. They also wanted to enable students to understand different forms of representation
(equation, table, graph) so that they could “move” fluently between them.
3.2.2 Issues constraining teachers’ practice
The textbook used by the teachers appears to lead the sequencing of topics and provides a
source of tasks for students to do, but it does not, in itself, appear to form an obstacle for
development. The obstacles for development appear to be the same obstacles that teachers
recognise as problems in their current approaches; for example, students’ behaviour (restlessness
amongst the students leads the teacher to conduct much of the lesson from the front
of the room) and lack of space within the classroom (which prevents experimenting with
alternative forms of organization and grouping). Thus, teachers argued that prolonged
“inquiry tasks” are not a feasible option, tasks need to be fairly well contained with clear
short term goals; however, this does not mean that students cannot be gradually prepared for
tasks of longer duration. The curriculum hangs as a cloud over all thoughts of development
because students must b