Mathematics teachers' development of practical knowledge: Learning to collaboratively design and teach inquiry-based statistics lessons

In the Netherlands, some major educational reforms in secondary education were implemented during the last twenty years. All these innovations aimed at enhancing the efficiency and quality of secondary education. Among the most recent innovations are the introduction of the Basisvorming in lower secondary education and the Tweede Fase in upper secondary education. In my study, I am particularly interested in the challenges these kinds of reforms pose to teacher professionalization.
For mathematics teachers, the new curriculum marked a new effort because they were faced with new types of assignments for pupils, new classroom activities, teaching of new skills and applying new pedagogies like inquiry-based and collaborative learning. When switching to new teaching pedagogies, teachers may encounter several difficulties that may raise concerns.
My study focuses on the professional development of mathematics teachers by means of a teacher network which allows teachers to reflect collaboratively on feasible activities within the school context. I started a network of teachers who were willing to engage in the design of a series of lessons aimed at statistical investigations following an inquiry-based approach.
The goal is to explore mathematics teachers’ development of practical knowledge and, in particular, changes in their practical knowledge after the professional development trajectory. Furthermore, it is the aim of this study to identify factors that influence the practical knowledge of teachers during the professional development trajectory.