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Abstract Official pressure for reforms in the teaching of mathematics overlooks a key factor: the psychological foundations of the practice of teaching mathematics, including the teacher's knowledge, beliefs and attitudes. Research on teaching and teacher education also under‐emphasises this area, which Shulman terms the ‘missing program’ in research on teacher cognitions. The present paper addresses this lack by proposing an analytic model of the different types of knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of the mathematics teacher, and their relationship with practice. Of particular note is the importance accorded to the teacher's practical knowledge of the teaching of mathematics (both pedagogical and curricular knowledge), knowledge of classroom organisation, and knowledge of the school context. Also notable is the importance ascribed to the teacher's beliefs concerning the nature of mathematics, and concerning the processes of teaching and learning mathematics. The model has implications for teacher education, and these are discussed at the end of the paper.
Paul Ernest (Sun,) studied this question.