Iben Maj Christiansen Professor

My research focus is the knowledge, learning and practices of mathematics teachers. I joined Stockholms University in January 2015, after working and living in South Africa for 15 years.

Currently, I am working with a wonderful team on a project on mapping mathematics teachers' learning from pre-service training to working in schools (https://www.mnd.su.se/english/research/mathematics-education/research-projects/trace). The project interrogates which changes in the teachers' practice occur after graduation, what informs their learning process, and how knowledge from their teacher education programmes is recontextualised. The project has a sister project in South Africa.

Before coming to Sweden, I supervised the first ever mathematics classroom study in Rwanda, a replication of a study previously conducted in South Africa, where I was involved in the study in one province. Taken together, the studies showed substantial differences in teacher knowledge and learner performance between the two countries. In particular, the Rwandan learners seemed to have better mastery of basic numeracy. In addition, the teaching in South Africa was found to be limited in conceptual focus and learner engagement, with the Rwandan teaching offered slightly better opportunities to learn.

A collaborative project (with Dr Carol Bertram and Dr Tabitha Mukeredzi) looked at the learning of early childhood education teachers enrolled in an in-service programme at University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It spans the learning of pedagogical content knowledge related to mother tongue instruction (Zulu), first additional language instruction (English) and numeracy.

And taking about Zulu, I ventured out of my field of (relative) experience, and wrote a paper on creating an app for practising Zulu. Fun!