Reflective practice and emotional engagement in mathematics teacher development: A qualitative multiple-case study in Panama
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14719/gst.e10Keywords:
didactic-mathematical knowledge, emotional engagement, mathematics teacher education, reflective practice, situated professional developmentAbstract
Situated professional development may help mathematics teachers connect didactic analysis with regulation of practice and the emotional demands of classroom work. This qualitative multiple-case study examined how metacognitive regulation and socio-emotional engagement were expressed across six dimensions of didactic-mathematical knowledge and competence in two Panamanian primary teachers completing the four-module EDEM diploma. The source inventory comprised 20 written pedagogical and mathematical task responses, eight reflective essays, two brief final-project video clips (three minutes combined), and 10 anonymised institutional-feedback records. A framework-informed codebook analysis combined deductive DMKC coding—epistemic, cognitive, affective, interactional, mediational, and ecological—with cross-cutting analysis of planning, monitoring, evaluation, empathy, resilience, motivation, and classroom climate. Teacher-produced, institutional, audiovisual, and researcher-interpreted evidence were distinguished throughout. Short source-linked excerpts are reported in the original Spanish with checked English translations. Across chronological artefacts, both cases displayed differences in the explicitness of planning, noticing, and redesign, although prompt and genre differences prevent treating chronology as a direct measure of development. Teacher A foregrounded dialogic interaction, collaboration, and contextual connections; Teacher B foregrounded cognitive structuring, representational and material choices, and fear reduction. Mediational and ecological evidence was less consistent. The findings document two differentiated patterns of expressed professional reasoning; they do not establish causal programme effects, sustained change, or student achievement gains. The study supports professional development that integrates didactic analysis, metacognitive prompts, and attention to classroom relationships while remaining responsive to local constraints.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Luisa Morales Maure Morales, Orlando García-Marimón, Keila Chacón-Rivadeneira, Agustín Alfredo Torres-Rodríguez (Author)
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