THE BELIEFS AND PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHERS WHO TEACH MATHEMATICS

Abstract

This text is one of the articles that make up the report of a doctoral research conducted 
in the multipaper format. Its aim is to understand the perceptions and beliefs of teachers who teach 
mathematics (TTM) regarding the teaching and learning of mathematics in elementary school, how these 
perceptions and beliefs have been formed, and whether there are indications that they shape teachers’ 
classroom practices. Narrative interviews were used as a tool for data production, and the analytical 
process was carried out through comprehensive and interpretative analysis. The participants are teachers 
working in public schools of a municipality located in the south of Minas Gerais. The initial training 
process of TTM in Pedagogy and Mathematics undergraduate courses is discussed, and theoretical 
reflections on beliefs and perceptions are presented. The analysis focused on the narratives of two female 
pedagogy teachers who teach in the 5th grade and two mathematics teachers who teach in the 6th grade. 
The conclusion is that the beliefs and perceptions of TTM shape their teaching practices; teachers tend 
to teach in the same way they themselves learned during their basic education; and there is a prevailing 
emphasis on the teaching of Numbers as a condition for students’ transition from the 5th to the 6th 
grade of elementary school.