Mathematics Mentors ' Pedagogical Content Knowledge: some suggestions for structure

The 'mathematics mentor ' is the school teacher tutor for student teachers within school-based Initial Teacher Education (ITE). My anecdotal and recorded observations of mentor-student interaction indicated that discussing points of mathematics and mathematical pedagogy were rare, (whereas discussion of general issues, like classroom management, were frequent). Student teachers need to learn strategies for teaching mathematics in particular, as well as children in general. As the students are based in school, the mentors have a key role in developing this learning; what then, is the nature of the mentors ' knowledge and how might they express this knowledge? While I do not attempt an exhaustive analysis of the reasons for why the mentors do not prioritise the teaching of mathematical pedagogy, I suggest there are at least the following considerations: (i) The experience of many of us who have worked with novice teachers is that they have a urgent concern with getting 'good order ' in their classrooms, so that working on management issues can easily exhaust the limited time available for tutorials with the mentor in school