Perspectives and evidence of the identity of the statistical educatorAbstract
This article aims to identify indicators of the reconfiguration of mathematics teachers’ professional identity as they engage in (auto)biographical narratives and come to position themselves as statistical educators in their high school classrooms. This qualitative study, grounded in an (auto)biographical perspective, analyzes written and oral narratives of practices produced by five teachers who teach probability and statistics during a distance education extension course. The analyses were organized into categories and structured across three temporal dimensions. Four indicators of this identity were identified: commitment to the reconfiguration of pedagogical practices; sharing of reflective analyses of formative experiences; recognition of new theoretical-methodological perspectives for teaching statistics; and valuing collaboration within professional learning contexts. The results reinforce the importance of teacher training initiatives that prioritize reflection and critical thinking while amplifying teacher’s voices. It is expected that this study will contribute to a better understanding of the identity of the statistical educator.
Keywords:
statistical education; teacher identity; secondary education; autobiographical narratives; teacher education.
Resumo
Este artigo tem como objetivo identificar indícios de redimensionamento da identidade profissional de professores de matemática ao produzirem narrativas (auto)biográficas e assumirem-se educadores estatísticos em suas aulas no Ensino Médio. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, na perspectiva (auto)biográfica, que analisa narrativas de práticas escritas e orais de cinco professores que ensinam probabilidade e estatística durante um curso de extensão EaD. As análises foram organizadas em categorias e distribuídas em três tempos. Foram identificados quatro indícios dessa identidade: compromisso com o redimensionamento das práticas pedagógicas, compartilhamento das análises reflexivas sobre experiências formativas, reconhecimento de novas perspectivas teórico-metodológicas para o ensino de Estatística e valorização da colaboração em espaços formativos. Os resultados reforçam a importância de formações que priorizem reflexão e pensamento crítico, dando voz ao professor. Espera-se que este estudo contribua para uma melhor compreensão da identidade do educador estatístico.
Palavras-chave:
educação estatística; identidade docente; ensino médio; narrativas autobiográficas; formação de professores.
Introduction
Understanding how teachers express aspects of their identity throughout their professional development, and how these identity markers or signs actively contribute to their commitment to their profession throughout their training process, provides valuable insights into their classroom practices, as their experiences shape both their personal and professional identities over the course of becoming a teacher.
One important approach to understanding this idiosyncratic identity, immersed in subjectivity, beliefs, achievements, frustrations, values, motives, and experiences, is to examine the teacher's overall trajectory of professional development. This perspective has allowed different researchers to assimilate how teacher identity is constructed. In turn, these insights can contribute to improving public policies for initial and continuing teacher education; to designing professional learning contexts that prioritize reflection, critical thinking, and commitment to the profession; to enhancing classroom practices in response to evolving societal demands; and, ultimately, to strengthening the quality of teacher training programs (Day, 2006; Hökkä; Vahasantanen; Mahlakaarto, 2017; Paula; Cyrino, 2018).
Numerous studies on teachers’ professional identity have received international attention (Beijaard; Verloop; Vermunt, 2004; Darragh, 2016; Goss; Bennison, 2008; Imbernón, 2010; Kelchtermans, 2009, among others) and have also been the focus of national research Estevam (2015), Paula and Cyrino (2020) and Teixeira and Cyrino (2015). In Brazil, the predominance of studies on the identity of mathematics teachers within the field of Mathematics Education, to the detriment of those focused on teachers who teach probability and statistics, has opened new perspectives on the constitution of mathematics teachers’ professional identity.
This has been confirmed by a mapping study conducted using the databases of the Capes Theses and Dissertations Database and the Digital Database of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD), based on master's and doctoral theses supervised by researchers affiliated with the SBEM Statistics Education Working Group (GT-12), covering the period from 2000 to March 2021 (Barbosa, 2022). The results of this search did not identify any studies addressing the identity of the statistical educator, thereby highlighting the novelty and relevance of this article in presenting evidence of this identity at the national level.
Given the importance of identity studies, examining teachers’ professional identity presents a challenge due to the multiple and complex factors involved in the ongoing (re)construction of their experiences throughout their formative trajectories. It is therefore essential to adopt methodologies capable of revealing aspects related to the constitution of this identity, which emerges from processes shaped by teachers lived experiences. In the case of this study, we draw on (auto)biographical narratives of the teaching practices of mathematics teachers who teach probability and statistics in high school to reveal clues about the identity of the statistical educator, lending the study a distinctive character.
In this sense, the aim of this article is to identify signs of the reconfiguration of mathematics teachers’ professional identity as they engage in (auto)biographical narratives and come to position themselves as statistical educators in their high school classrooms, within the context of a continuing teacher education course entitled Pedagogical Practices
in Statistics Education. Accordingly, the design of professional learning contexts that prioritize reflection, critical thinking, and teaching practices connected to students’ everyday lives constitutes one of the central pillars of this initiative. Active and collaborative learning opportunities in training, rooted in authentic teaching practices, are crucial for enhancing teachers' professional development (Marcelo, 2009) and subsequently building and strengthening their professional identity (Libâneo, 2001).
The next section presents the theoretical framework of the study, focusing on teachers’ professional identity, followed by the methodological aspects that guide the development of this research. It then presents the results of the analysis of the (auto)biographical narratives and, finally, the concluding reflections.
Teachers' professional identity
Teachers' professional identity cannot be characterized as stable, fixed, or uniform (Beijaard; Verloop; Vermunt, 2004; Coldron; Smith, 1999), since its constitution results from a continuous process of interpretation and reinterpretation of teachers lived experiences (Kerby, 1991), in a dynamic movement that does not unfold uniformly across individuals (Imbernón, 2010). This professional identity is not only related to the conceptions and expectations that others may hold about teachers, but also to what teachers themselves consider meaningful in their work and in their lives, based on their practical experiences and personal backgrounds.
These experiences, accumulated throughout their personal and professional journeys, such as their experiences as students in basic education, influence the formation of their identities as teachers during their professional development (Day, 1999; Samuel; Stephens, 2000; Tickle, 2000). According to Nóvoa (1992, p. 16, our translation), “Identity is not a given, it is not a quality, it is not a product. Identity is a site of struggle and conflict, a space for the construction of ways of being and doing”. Professional identity is (re)constructed within this subjective field through a continuous back-and-forth movement involving different actors across diverse contexts.
Thus, in the absence of a precise definition of professional teacher identity (Beauchamp; Thomas, 2009), due to its unstable, complex, and multifaceted nature, in which various factors intersect in its constitution, the review study conducted by Beijaard, Verloop and Vermunt (2004) points out that most of the articles analyzed do not include an explicit definition of this concept, while those that do tend to characterize it as a process of continuous development integrating personal and professional dimensions in the act of becoming a teacher. According to these authors, it is not possible to precisely delimit specific elements that shape this professional identity; rather indications may be found in studies that focus on its formation or in works that draw on narratives to (re)present these teacher identities.
Rodrigues and Mogarro (2019) emphasize the significance of researching professional identity in teaching during the initial stages of training. They argue that the professional identity of teachers in training is dynamic and multifaceted, influenced by factors such as practice, supervision, professional attitude, emotions, critical reflection, and institutional support. These elements are fundamental to professional teacher development and directly impact the formation of their identity. The authors also highlight the lack of consensus regarding the factors that influence this professional identity, which they define as a process involving perceptions, meanings, images, and self-knowledge that individuals construct about themselves.
Narrating life stories as a means of understanding professional identity allows teachers to (re)discover and shape their teaching identity. According to Watson (2006), professional teaching identity is linked to aspects of knowledge and professional practice; however, this relationship is complex and multifaceted. This identity is shaped across multiple contexts, and teaching narratives constitute a valuable strategy for articulating experiences, knowledge, and practices. In this process, storytelling can directly influence identity formation, making it a productive methodological approach for investigating such processes in school contexts. These narratives, composed of personal and collective experiences interwoven with multiple voices, can be accessed through methodologies that allow teachers to position themselves as protagonists of their practice. As noted by Imbernón (2010, p. 80, our translation):
This protagonism is necessary and even indispensable if innovations and changes are to be made to educational practice and if teachers are to develop personally and professionally. If educators can narrate their conceptions of teaching, training can help them legitimize, modify, or destroy them.
According to this author, it is important to include teachers' narratives into training processes that value the subjectivity and social facts that permeate their lives and have directly contributed to the constitution of their identity. Promoting such protagonism in teacher training involves fostering forms of education grounded in reflection, openness to new knowledge, and opportunities for sharing and expanding professional identity through collective or collaborative dimensions, rather than reinforcing models that position teachers merely as objects of training.
According to Bolívar (2006), teacher’s professional identity is conceived through a process of narrative writing from a biographical-narrative perspective. By recalling the past to project new actions in the present and future, teachers reconstruct their experiences and attribute meaning to what they have lived, immersed in individual and collective actions. In other words, professional identity may be understood as a product of narratives. The narrative thus conceived is not only a pedagogical resource for those who narrate, but also an instrument of self-formation and a constitutive element of teachers' professional identity. As Hinchman and Hinchman (2001, p. 14) state, “Identity is that which emerges in and through narrative”. In that sense, our identities are modified from the moment we begin to narrate and share our life stories with ourselves and with others.
In line with this perspective, Souza (2008) points out the importance of methodologies such as (auto)biographical research as a valuable resource for understanding processes of teacher training and knowledge construction, particularly regarding professional identity in the context of postgraduate continuing education. In fact, our choice of an (auto)biographical approach is consistent with the objectives of the present study.
Life stories have become one of the most efficient methods for studying and understanding the processes of teachers’ professional identity, as they allow the researchers to apprehend, through (auto)biographical narratives, what the process of becoming a teacher has been like throughout their professional development. In addition, the sense of identity is strengthened when teachers recognize themselves as protagonists of the stories they tell. This leads to deep reflection, (self-)formation and self-evaluation of their identities (Torres; Cantoral, 2013).
Thus, several authors have emphasized the importance of considering teachers' professional identity in initiatives aimed at promoting professional development (Graven, 2004; Heyd-Metzuyanim; Shabtay, 2019). This perspective has direct implications for the improvement of pedagogical practices, especially for mathematics teachers who teach probability and statistics in basic education, which constitutes the focus of this study. In this regard, revisiting and reconfiguring teaching practices through theoretical and methodological strategies that enable teachers to develop content knowledge and didactic-pedagogical competencies for teaching statistics is essential for transforming lives, responding to societal demands, and promoting equity and social justice.
In Brazil, relatively few studies have drawn attention to the importance of professional identity in the field of mathematics education (Batista Neto, 2007; Beline, 2012; Bierhalz, 2012; Guidini, 2010; Losano; Cyrino, 2017; Matheus, 2008; Oliveira, 2004; Pamplona; Carvalho, 2009; Paula; Cyrino, 2017, 2020; Paz, 2008; Santana, 2012; Teixeira; Cyrino, 2015; Zanini, 2006, among others). When considering the identity of mathematics teachers who teach probability and statistics in basic education, or the identity of the statistical educator more broadly, this scenario becomes even more concerning.
A review of the main thesis and dissertation portals of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD), conducted by Barbosa (2022), indicates that there is not a single work on the identity of mathematics teachers who teach probability and statistics across educational levels, from early childhood education to higher education, in Brazil. In international literature, only two manuscripts were found that alluded to the development of this professional identity of the statistical educator. The first, by Gómez (2014), reports on the importance of communities of practice in the constitution of this identity, while the second, by Whitaker (2016), evaluates aspects of this professional identity in exemplary in-service statistician educators.
The study proposed by Gómez (2014) was based on Wenger’s (1998) framework and aimed to analyze the constitution of the identity of teachers who teach statistics within a training program organized as a community of practice. To this end, the study involved approximately ten in-service teachers who teach statistics in basic education in the city of Medellín, Colombia. The results presented reveal three characteristics of this professional identity: recognizing and sharing experiences; constructing images of teaching statistics as exploration and as a space for new alternatives in practice; and finally, committing to practice and to others.
Using Gee’s (2000) theoretical framework and Lave and Wenger's (1991) and Wenger's (1998) communities of practice, Whitaker (2016) explores the professional identities of pre-service statistics teachers. For this purpose, twelve participants were invited to attend two seminars, followed by a structured interview. The results indicate that these teachers develop identities for teaching statistics, with subject knowledge and teacher isolation within the school emerging as central elements in the constitution of this identity.
In sum, teachers’ professional identity is a relevant and complex issue that calls for methodologies capable of bringing to life the images created by these teachers during their personal and professional journeys, as well as the different experiences that shape the development of this identity. Therefore, the use of (auto)biographical narratives is fundamental for understanding these signs of professional identity, anchored in teachers’ life stories, and for revealing elements that often remain submerged in the processes through which one becomes a teacher.
Methodological aspects
This study follows a qualitative approach from the perspective of the (auto)biographical method as a research methodology, which, according to Passeggi, Vicentini and Souza (2013), is also understood as a process of (auto)formation. The use of autobiographical research in studies discussing the professional identity of teachers has been widely advocated by different researchers, since investigating identity processes requires an understanding of teachers’ life stories, shaped by both positive and negative experiences that constitute this identity (Tardiff, 2008).
Therefore, to study the evidence of the identity of statistical educators, a training course entitled Pedagogical Practices in Statistical Education in Distance Education Mode was offered by the Center for Studies and Research in Mathematics and Statistics Education (GEPEME), in partnership with the University of Cruzeiro do Sul. The course was attended by eight mathematics teachers who teach probability and statistics in high school and who reside in the states of São Paulo and Espírito Santo. It lasted three months and was organized into three training modules. Throughout the course, several activities connecting the teaching of probability and statistics to everyday life were developed and implemented by the participating teachers in their classrooms in a remote format, allowing them to expand their practices in teaching statistics during the pandemic period.
At the end of the practical activities, each participating teacher was invited to write an autobiographical narrative reflecting on the most significant aspects of their practice during the course. The discussions within the training groups throughout the course enabled teachers to (re)learn about the dilemmas, anxieties, and challenges they faced as they narrated their practice experiences. In terms of ethics, the data generated and used in this study were submitted to and approved by the Research Ethics Committee, and all the participating teachers signed the Free and Informed Consent Form (FICF).
Initially, it was expected that the written narratives alone would provide sufficient indications for understanding the identity of the statistical educator; however, the analysis revealed the need to further explore the elements described by the participants. Therefore, to better understand these narratives of written practices, we adopted the narrative interview as a specific data production technique, considering the model proposed by Schütze (1977, 1983, 1992) and later adapted by Jovchelovitch and Bauer (2002).
This type of narrative interview deviates from traditional question-and-answer formats, allowing the narrator to draw on memories, emotions, and experiences that have shaped their formative journey or teaching practice. This is done in response to a guiding question that directly relates to the research objectives. According to Nóvoa (1988), (auto)biographical narratives can be written or oral, and this choice does not change their methodological characteristics.
Finally, for the purposes of this study, the narratives of practice of five participating teachers, referred to as P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5, were selected to constitute the corpus of analysis. After analyzing the narratives, four indicators of the identity of the statistical educator emerged: indicator 1 - commitment to the reconfiguration of pedagogical practices; indicator 2 - sharing of reflective analyses of experiences developed during the training process; indicator 3 - recognition of new theoretical-methodological perspectives for teaching statistics; and indicator 4 - expression of the importance of collaboration in statistical training contexts.
The strategy for analyzing the narratives made use of an adapted procedure proposed by Souza (2006), which investigates the analysis of narratives across three stages: stage (i) - initial reading of the narratives, to identify specific characteristics of each teacher throughout their training process; stage (ii), termed Thematic Reading - organization of the narratives into thematic axes, presented as indicators of the educators; and stage (iii), termed Comprehensive Interpretive Reading - interpretive analysis of the narratives, with or without reference to theoretical frameworks. Accordingly, in stage (iii), the discussions are presented in dialogue with the theoretical framework presented.
Results
First, table 1 presents some general characteristics of the participating teachers, identified through the analysis corresponding to Time (i) of the proposal developed by Souza (2006) and adapted for this study. These characteristics include level of education, year of graduation in mathematics, length of experience in mathematics teaching, and current employment status, which were defined as analytical variables and derived from the reading of the (auto)biographical narratives.
The five teachers selected are mathematics teachers who teach probability and statistics in high school, one from the State of São Paulo and four from Espírito Santo. These teachers are seeking continuous training throughout their professional development processes, seeking to improve their theoretical-methodological approaches to teaching mathematics and statistics, while (re)signifying them, based on the experiences they have accumulated throughout their lives, which directly influence the (re)construction of their professional teaching identity.
The next stage of analysis consists of a closer reading of the written and oral narratives, referred to as Time (ii) or thematic reading, in which we try to find signs of the statistical educator. Thus, after careful reading, a synthesis of elements that characterize these indicators of the statistical educator’s professional identity is shown in table 2.
These clues, the fruit of experiences from past and present training processes, vary from teacher to teacher, as the teaching practices enacted in their interactions with students, both in remote and in-person contexts, are directly related to the ways in which they attribute meaning to their work; in other words, to how their professional identity as teachers is manifested (Day et al., 2006). Professional identity is complex, multifaceted, dynamic, unstable, contradictory, inconsistent, unique, and unfinished (Silva, 2000).
In the next section, we present the signs of the professional identity of statistical educators, as revealed through the analysis of their (auto)biographical narratives of oral and written practices developed during the activities proposed in the training course. Following each practical activity, participants were asked to produce both oral and written accounts of their classroom experiences in a remote context. The first three indicators of this professional identity are close to the results found in the study conducted by Gómez (2014), which analyzed teachers who teach statistics within a community of practice in Colombia. The presence of these same indicators in the Colombian context reinforces the relevance of the findings presented in this study.
Thus, the results are organized into four indicators of this professional teaching identity: commitment to the reconfiguration of teaching practices; sharing reflective analyses of experiences developed during the training process; recognition of new theoretical-methodological perspectives for teaching statistics; and expression of the importance of collaboration in statistical education training contexts. For each of these indicators, excerpts from the analyzed narratives are presented to substantiate the corresponding analytical category.
Commitment to the reconfiguration of teaching practices
The commitment to reconfiguring pedagogical practices is assumed here to be an approach to teaching statistics that takes the context and problems of society as a reference point and proposes responses grounded in statistical inquiry that go beyond technical rationality. This perspective refers to the adoption of teaching practices that invite both teachers and students to engage with and learn about the benefits and power of statistics across different contexts, for example, through interdisciplinary investigations that seek to understand and address social problems. In this way, teachers can interact with other fields of knowledge by proposing solutions to everyday problems using statistical reasoning.
According to Pagan and Magina (2011), teaching statistics from an interdisciplinary perspective means broadening statistical concepts and fostering greater interaction between students and teachers, making lessons more interesting and accessible, while highlighting the importance of this field in society. We also align with Lopes (1998), who emphasizes that statistics is an interdisciplinary science that enables dialogue with other fields of knowledge. Indeed, the presence of statistics in a wide range of real-world problems makes it easier to develop projects that incorporate statistical inquiry across different domains.
Some of the teachers participating in this study had initial training experiences characterized an emphasis on technical rationality, as illustrated in an excerpt from the narrative of teacher P2. According to this account, the teacher believed that the number of exercises carried out in the classroom would ensure success in teaching statistics. So, to better understand these perspectives, we selected excerpts from the narratives of teachers P1 and P2 that reflect their views on the teaching of statistics.
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P1: [...] Today I try to work with this link between subjects because I want students to understand that statistics are present in everyday life. [...] When I came up with the idea of applying statistics in the classroom to current issues, such as COVID-19 and the elections, all the teachers accepted it [narrative produced by P1 in the first semester of 2021].
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P2 [...] I now have a different vision, thinking in a more practical way, not limited to solving exercises or to this more mechanical approach, but oriented towards students’ lives, so that they can see that it makes sense in everyday life and that it has a meaning for life, and that they too can develop this vision that I gained during the course [narrative produced by P2 in the first semester of 2021].
The statements of P1 and P2 reveal a commitment to the reconfiguration of teaching practices, as they indicate that the training experience contributed to broadening their conceptions of the importance of teaching statistics to meet the demands of society and provide citizens with statistical literacy. In P1's account, the importance of interdisciplinary, resulting from a context of statistical investigation centered on themes such as COVID-19 and elections, proved essential in motivating both students and fellow teachers to be more motivated to develop the project. In this process, biology and history teachers contributed to the success of the statistical project by incorporating stages of statistical inquiry into meaningful and contemporary contexts aimed at addressing everyday problems.
In addition, P2 indicates that her beliefs and conceptions about teaching statistics had been based on mechanistic practices and were subsequently reshaped through the course, which underscores the importance of training spaces and of methodological approaches that prioritize listening to and engaging in dialogue with teachers to capture such nuances. According to Marcelo (2009), beliefs about teaching guide professional practice constitute a central dimension of teacher identity. For this reason, proposing training environments capable of generating reflection and critical thinking, with a view to reconfiguring practices and (re)signifying beliefs, is indispensable for training teachers committed to quality teaching and to the ongoing construction of their professional identity.
Sharing reflective analyses of the experiences developed during the training process
This theme presents teachers' reports on the importance of training environments that position them as protagonists of their own teaching and learning processes and that encourage the sharing of experiences related to the teaching of statistics throughout their professional development. In this regard, we highlight how such spaces for dialogue and listening can provide teachers with greater empowerment for teaching this science, grounded in collective engagement, attentive listening, reflection, and talking with their peers about the fears and challenges associated with teaching statistics, which, in turn, directly influence their teaching practices.
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P1: I think the highlight of the course was the moments of interaction provided by the seminars. Although we were engaging with the assigned readings, this training space also offered the opportunity to see the person presenting their work [narrative produced by P1 in the first semester of 2021].
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P2 [...] It was excellent for my training, especially when there were lectures and presentations by colleagues that addressed practical ways of teaching statistics in the classroom and demonstrated how statistical content can be taught differently. So, it was really enriching for me in that sense of how to do it [narrative produced by P2 in the first semester of 2021].
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P3: It was interesting because the activities and experiences presented in the seminars were enriching. So, this chat, the exchange of experiences during the presentation of the activities developed by the participating teachers and researchers, was good, and we need to have this contact because it broadens our vision and guides us in how to work with statistics; in other words, it reveals possible pathways. So, these seminars were significant and enriching [narrative produced by P3 in the first semester of 2021].
The statements of P1, P2, and P3 indicate that creating spaces in which teachers can voice their experiences and reflections on the teaching of statistics may represent a turning point in overcoming the professional isolation (Marcelo, 2009) that is often evident among mathematics educators who teach statistics. In this sense, training contexts that both give voice to teachers and attend to their perspectives can bring to light the anxieties, fears, and challenges they encounter in teaching statistics.
The excerpt from P1’s narrative reflects the importance of the seminars conducted throughout the training process by researchers from the SBEM Working Group (WG-12), which focus on discussions related to the teaching of probability, combinatorics, and statistics across different levels of education. This rapprochement between the academic community and the school context is important so that teachers can have access to what has been developed in the field and, above all, to innovative methodologies that point towards the teaching of statistics oriented towards statistical literacy.
For P2 and P3, the highlight of the training course was the presentations delivered by their peers during the seminars. These seminars were designed to provide participating teachers with the opportunity to present the work developed with their students in a remote context, to reflect on the experiences involved in planning and implementing these activities, and to identify strategies, innovations, and difficulties encountered during their enactment in the classroom. In agreement with Scarlassari and Lopes (2019), when teachers are given opportunities to share their professional work within a dynamic characterized by diverse perspectives and contexts, they can reveal elements of their theoretical and didactic practices while, at the same time, enriching and reconfiguring their approaches to teaching statistics.
Recognition of new theoretical and methodological perspectives for the teaching of statistics
Beliefs and conceptions about this science and its teaching, often guided by memorization and relentless use of mathematical formulas, are rooted in initial training that prioritizes the solving of exercises disconnected from social reality. The excerpts presented in this section highlight these practices while also revealing a redefined understanding of statistics, emphasizing the importance of new theoretical and methodological perspectives in teaching statistics aimed at empowering students as active participants.
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P1: [...] I used to focus on mechanics, and now I focus much more on the why. I used to think about mathematics, but not about statistics. Now, I save graphs and show my students the errors they contain. I have begun to look more closely at these aspects when I think about statistics, rather than simply carrying out calculations [narrative produced by P1 in the first semester of 2021].
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P2: [...] Students need to understand that statistics is not an isolated subject; they’re not something detached from context. [...] For us to build a better world, all fields need to work together toward a common goal [narrative produced by P2 in the first semester of 2021].
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P4: [...] with the methodologies presented in the course and the diversified activities, I have also changed my vision of how to teach statistics in the classroom [narrative produced by P4 in the first semester of 2021].
The narratives of teachers P1, P2, and P4 suggest a reconfigured view of statistics and their teaching. We observed that positioning contexts drawn from different sectors of society as a point of departure for exploring the domain of statistics became an innovative way of reconfiguring teaching practices. The teachers came to recognize that mastery of mathematical and statistical techniques, as well as algorithmic procedures, is not sufficient for teaching statistics. In this sense, statistical educators differ from mathematics educators in that they require a distinct set of competencies.
According to P1, his statistics classes were previously based on mechanical processes of solving exercises; however, following the course, his approach to teaching statistical graphics changed. For example, instead of focusing solely on construction, he began to ask students about the nature of statistical data and the reliability of information presented in the media, thus helping to awaken their critical thinking. In short, the teacher became aware of the new theoretical and methodological perspectives.
One participating teacher also indicated that, although he already incorporated critical thinking into his mathematics teaching, he continued to rely on mechanistic approaches when teaching statistics. This contrast highlights both the development of the mathematics teacher and a gap in the formation of the statistics educator’s professional identity.
According to P2, statistics cannot be taught in isolation, as statistical data are inherently contextual, which constitutes one of the fundamental characteristics distinguishing statistics from mathematics. Recognizing this represents a big step toward transforming teaching practices. For Garfield and Gal (1999), statistical data must be interpreted within context, as context provides the basis for making sense of the results obtained. Similarly, Cobb and Moore (1997) argue that statistics require a mode of thinking distinct from that of mathematics, since statistical data are not merely numbers, but numbers situated within context. In this sense, providing teachers with training contexts that incorporate new theoretical and methodological perspectives for teaching statistics opens pathways toward statistical literacy among the population.
Expression of the importance of collaboration in statistical education training spaces
The narratives of the participating teachers show that they have come to recognize the importance of the training they have engaged in overtime, especially the in-service training in statistics education offered through the extension course, in supporting their professional development. This moment helped them to transform their practice and, consequently, to strengthen their professional identity as teachers.
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P4: I've always been involved in training, so much so that I took this course and another focused-on teaching with GeoGebra, completed a specialization, and began a master's degree. [...] I found the professional development course very important for my performance in teaching statistics. [narrative produced by P4 in the first semester of 2021].
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P5: Continuing education in the teaching of statistics is important and helps us teach with greater confidence. So, when you say let's work with this, you have to allow yourself to take part in training processes that help address gaps in our teaching of this science. [...] I feel this need for training to better understand the concepts and improve the ways in which I approach them in the classroom [narrative produced by P5 in the first semester of 2021].
For P4, although he has attended several professional development courses, he reports that attending the extension course Pedagogical Practices in Statistics Education enabled him to better understand the role of technology in teaching both mathematics and statistics. This experience also motivated him to pursue a master's degree focused on the teaching of statistics through digital games. P5, in turn, highlights through his narrative the importance of training courses in statistics education for strengthening both theoretical and practical dimensions of teaching. However, for these courses to be meaningful, teachers need to recognize existing gaps in their knowledge and be open to approaching the teaching of statistics in ways that differ from those experienced during their initial training.
Conclusions
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A partir da situação-problema apresentada, os grupos levantaram as hipóteses , apresentado estratégias para a recuperação do Parque Zoobotânico do Museu. O grupo Minha casa, Minha vida propôs o seguinte:
The aim of this study was to identify indicators of transformation in the professional identity of mathematics teachers as they produce (auto)biographical narratives and become statistics educators in their secondary school classes. To this end, the study analyzed (auto)biographical narratives of practices developed during a professional development course entitled Pedagogical Practices in Statistics Education.
The five narratives, organized across three analytical stages, as proposed by Souza (2006) and adapted for this study, revealed four indicators of the identity of the statistical educator, understood here as the mathematics teacher who teaches probability and statistics. Based on these indicators - commitment to the reconfiguration of pedagogical practices; sharing reflective analyses of experiences developed during the training process; recognition of new theoretical and methodological perspectives for the teaching of statistics; and expression of the importance of collaboration in statistical training contexts - we conducted our analysis.
The first three indicators of this movement toward the constitution of the statistical educator’s professional identity are consistent with those found in the study conducted by Gómez (2014), which also employed (auto)biographical narratives of teachers’ practices within a training context. This convergence reinforces the importance of training environments that position teachers as protagonists of their teaching and learning process, including in virtual settings, as demonstrated in the course analyzed in this study.
The analysis of the first indicator - commitment to the reconfiguration of teaching practices - highlights the importance of this attitude in characterizing the identity of the statistical educator. In this regard, the teachers emphasized how the training context was essential for reconfiguring beliefs and conceptions about the teaching of statistics that had previously been grounded in mechanistic or memorization-based approaches. They also recounted how interdisciplinarity can take on a renewed dimension when it incorporates statistics, as it becomes easier to recognize the interrelationship among disciplines and, through the collaboration of teachers from different fields of knowledge, to foster students' critical thinking.
The second indicator - sharing reflective analyses of experiences developed during the training process - reaffirms a central feature of teacher identity. Providing teachers with opportunities to voice their experiences, to be heard, and to assume a protagonist role contributes to their empowerment in teaching this field and in making sense of the positive and negative experiences that are interwoven throughout their training. Therefore, narrating and reflecting on experiences of teaching statistics enables the reconfiguration of both teaching practices and identity processes.
The third indicator - recognition of new theoretical and methodological perspectives for the teaching of statistics - demonstrates that the teachers have assimilated new ways of approaching the teaching of statistics. However, such transformations become possible only when continuous training contexts offer theoretical and methodological perspectives that position teachers as protagonists of their own learning processes and provide space for them to articulate their reflections and critiques. It is worth reiterating that some of the participating teachers had initial training based on technical rationality. Nonetheless, engagement in the extension course enabled them to reconceptualize statistics as a science characterized by multiple interactions and to recognize its potential to foster the development of critical individuals committed to equity and social justice. In short, teaching grounded in new theoretical-methodological perspectives has helped them to move beyond a focus on graphs or statistical measures, with some already incorporating inferential reasoning into their teaching practices.
The next and last remark - a statement about the importance of collaboration in training spaces for statistical education - points to the importance of training spaces that prioritize dialogue and listening, that place teachers as protagonists of their teaching and learning process. Ongoing training in statistics education enables teachers to understand what statistics really is and how it should be taught, thus awakening their characteristics as statistics educators. Perhaps this will motivate them to enroll in master's programs in statistics education.
Finally, we hope that the findings presented in this article, which offer an initial portrayal of the statistical educator, may contribute to a more in-depth understanding of this professional identity. These results are not intended to be definitive; rather, they represent a starting point for the academic community to advance knowledge on the statistical educator, particularly within undergraduate teacher education. We also emphasize that the use of methodologies that give teachers voice and agency can lead to a deeper understanding of this identity, which is dynamic, unique, unstable, non-uniform, and constructed across multiple actors and contexts.
Acknowledgements
This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001.
Data Availability Statement
All the datasets that support the results of this study are published in the article itself.
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Edited by
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Editor:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5018-3621 Roberto Nardi
