Beginning mathematics teachers' ways of knowing: the link with working for emancipatory change

In this article, drawing on extended interview data collected as part of a larger study, a model of the ways of knowing of beginning mathematics teachers is elaborated. Central to the model is the construct ‘authority’ which links authoritative knowing and the authorship of knowledge. Four epistemological perspectives are described: silence, external authority, internal authority and the authority of self and reason. These are linked to two different traditions in mathematics classrooms – ‘school maths’ and ‘inquiry maths’ – and to the commitment of beginning mathematics teachers to working for emancipatory change in education.