Being a mathematics teacher in times of reform

Within research on mathematics teachers and/or their professional development, the concept of identity emerges as a critique of views of how teaching practice is related to teachers’ ‘internal states’ of knowledge and beliefs. Identity relates teachers’ professional lives to teaching practices and to the contexts in which the teaching and/or professional development occurs. However, what might count as the context still needs in-depth discussion. In order to contribute to the development of a theoretical framework for understanding mathematics teachers’ professional lives, we will draw on one remarkable teacher’s identity as a primary mathematics teacher in relation to one political, sociocultural, and pedagogical context. We use this teacher’s experience to discuss how education policies that create what Ball (2003) called ‘terrors of performativity’ tend to impede the formation of a balanced teacher identity.