Tensions in equity- and reform-oriented learning in teachers' collaborative conversations

This paper explores how teachers' collaborative conversations afford and constrain their learning opportunities, through the close analysis of an interaction between equity-oriented mathematics teachers who were working together. The analysis reveals that although the group seemed like an ideal professional learning community in many ways, the teachers were frequently caught in tensions between restrictive and inclusive discourses about mathematical competence. The existence of these tensions presented opportunities for the teachers to learn, but teachers' framings of their own collaborative work stifled these opportunities. This paper contributes to understanding the challenges of equity- and reform-oriented learning in teachers' professional communities.