Taking the social, political, and ethical dimensions of mathematics education seriously means not only researching these issues, but also designing and assessing research with these dimensions in mind. When designing an interview study about planning in mathematics, diversity in meanings was recognized and participants and their voices were foregrounded. In this paper, the design is related to perspectives on interviews, meaning as both durable and transient, and quality criteria such as reproducibility and bias. Theoretical assumptions had consequences for how meaning was seen, but also for relevance of the chosen quality criteria. Findings suggest that not only design, but also assessment of quality in interview studies have to be discussed in relation to the theoretical assumptions the studies build on. 

Planning is an essential part of teachers’ work that has consequences for students’ learning. However, previous research shows that what it means to plan vary. To explore the meaning of planning from teachers’ point of view, and to open up for planning as a situated and emotional process, an interview study with Swedish mathematics teachers was conducted. In the analysis, the theoretical concepts,meaning, and emotions were used as analytical tools to fill the gap identified in the review of previous research about planning. Findings reveal planning as a varied process in which teachers draw on different resources. Actors other than teachers influence both how planning is done and the mathematics teaching that is planned for. Findings also reveal that feelings, such as joy, shame, and insufficiency, are present in the process of planning. These feelings sometimes have consequences for decisions teachers make about their mathematics teaching.

In mathematics education, there is a growing interest in research on social aspects such as how mathematics teaching in classrooms is informed by society. Consequently, new sets of theoretical frameworks and methods have to be taken into account. In a focus group study, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was used as a theoretical framework, which enabled the researcher to see how mathematics teachers resist and construct a discourse of mathematics teaching apart from the official discourse. Also shown in the study is that power relations are circulating and thereby influencing teachers in the process of planning in mathematics. In this paper, results from the study are used to emphasize CDA as useful for mathematics education researchers seeking to grasp the complex, dynamic, and emerging nature of mathematics teaching.

Mathematics teaching and mathematics teachers are part of cultural, societal, and educational structures. These structures and different actors within the structures construct mathematics teaching differently and influence the scope of action that teachers hold. To explore the mechanisms behind this influence, Fairclough’s concepts of representations and assumptions were used to analyze common themes in interviews with six Swedish mathematics teachers. Results showed that there is diversity in ways of representing and that three groups of actors are visible in the representations: teachers, official actors, and students and parents. Results also revealed tensions between representations and assumptions that have consequences for teachers’ considerations and decisions about their mathematics teaching.