What Influences Mathematics Teacher Educators’ Decisions in Course Design: Activity Theory and Professional Capital as an Investigative Approach

This chapter explores the potential of two theoretical perspectives to examine the factors that underpin decisions we make as mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) in the design of our courses. We report on discussions during initial meetings at the beginning of our review cycle to reassess the content, assessment and alignment of our three core mathematics pedagogy units in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) course. The discussions revealed a range of factors influencing the decisions we make about our courses and suggested we should investigate potential frameworks against which such decisions might be evaluated. We draw on two theoretical frameworks - activity theory and professional capital - to interpret the emerging themes in our decision-making process. In using these two theoretical models, we found we were better able to understand both the complexities of, and the tensions between, our agency and the need for alignment between the units we teach.