Position/Status

Assistant Professor in Teacher Professional Learning

E-mail Address

mzm21@cam.ac.uk

Phone

N/A

Qualifications

• 2021 - PhD (Mathematics and Teacher Education) - University of Stockholm, Sweden
• 2014 - MEd (International Perspectives in Mathematics Education) - University of Cambridge, England
• 2001 - BSc (Applied Mathematics, Teaching Qualification) - Technical University of Gdansk, Poland

Profile

Gosia Marschall is an Assistant Professor in Teacher Professional Learning at the Faculty of Education, having previously worked as a Departmental Lecturer in Education at the University of Oxford, and as a Teaching Associate at the Secondary Mathematics PGCE at the University of Cambridge. She teaches and supervises on various programmes across the faculty, in the areas of Initial Teacher Education, Teacher Professional Learning, Educational Leadership, Transforming Practice and Mathematics Education.

Gosia’s main research agenda focuses on developing understanding of how teachers learn, during initial teacher education and beyond. By drawing on theoretical and empirical research perspectives from education, sociology, social psychology and cognitive neuroscience, Gosia pursues the goal of (re)conceptualizing teacher professional learning as a process which integrates teacher knowledge, teacher self-efficacy, affect, agency, and teacher identity; all that while keeping teachers and their professional growth, fulfilment and wellbeing at heart. Gosia’s work is predominantly abductive and phenomenological, engaging with rich qualitative case studies and theory.

With background in Mathematics and Mathematics Education, Gosia’s secondary research interests relate to the teaching and learning of algebra and calculus, as well as affect in mathematics teaching and learning. In particular, in her master’s dissertation project, she explored the meaning and functionality of the equal sign, as well as Polish teachers’ conceptions of and approaches to teaching linear equations.

The research of Gosia’s students to date includes a broad scope of areas, such as: teacher professional learning and development, teacher collaborative learning communities, using video-stimulated recall in teacher mentoring development programme, development of students’ mathematics self-efficacy, the process of mathematics textbook design—translating and implementing curricular aims, literacy intervention for the learning of mathematics, and many more.

Gosia welcomes applications from students interested in research areas of Teacher Professional Learning and Development (which includes, but is not limited to, theories of learning, teacher professional development, educational dialogue, teacher self-efficacy, teacher identity, teacher decision-making, agency, affect, teacher wellbeing) and Mathematics Education (particularly if focusing on areas such as teaching and learning of algebra and calculus, self-efficacy or affect in mathematics teaching and learning).

Academic Area/Links

• CEDiR (Cambridge Educational Dialogue Research), University of Cambridge, England
• STEM (Science, Technology and Mathematics Education), University of Cambridge, England
• PELS (Psychology, Education and Learning Studies), University of Cambridge, England
• SOCAME, University of Stockholm, Sweden
• LUNG, University of Stockholm, Sweden
• Third Wave Project (Values and Valuing in Mathematics Education), University of Melbourne, Australia

Research Topics

• Teacher Professional Learning and Development
• Teacher Education
• Theories of Professional Learning
• Teacher Self-efficacy and Teacher Identity
• Teacher Decision Making
• Affect in Teacher Education
• Affect in Mathematics Education
• Mathematics Education

Current Research Project(s)

• Research and networking project: Network for Research on Mathematics Teacher Attrition and Retention in Culturally Diverse School Contexts (in progress)

A one-year project (Jan-Dec 2024) in collaboration with Universidad Católica de Temuco (Chile), Universidad de Tarapacá (Chile), Universidad del Cauca (Colombia), Auckland University (New Zealand).

This international initiative focuses on collaborative grappling with the issues pertaining race and diversity, with hope to provide some answers on useful ways forward in teacher education.

• Research project: Reconciling the agentic and performative (TSE, agency) and social (teacher identity) aspects of self – a phenomenological investigation secondary mathematics pre-service teacher professional learning during ITE (ongoing)

A two-year, longitudinal phenomenological study, exploring tensions between the agentic and social aspects of self in the process of teacher professional learning. Further theoretical investigation and conceptualisation of Teacher Professional Learning. Principal Investigators: Dr Gosia Marschall (University of Cambridge, England); Dr Steve Watson (University of Cambridge, England)

This project responds to concerns revolving around teacher struggles, burn-out and attrition, related to pressures teachers endure in everyday professional lives; pressures which are detrimental to effective professional learning. Unlike other similar initiatives, however, this project focuses on framing the conceptualisation of teacher professional learning away from a deficit model and towards professional growth based on reflective and reflexive processes and practices. In those, we focus on how mathematics teachers deal (or not) with the necessity to reconcile tensions between social and agentic aspects of learning; a reconciliation which feeds into a successful development of their professional identity.

• Research project: Conceptualising Mathematics Teacher Wellbeing (MTWB): A Strength Based Initiative to Support Thriving Teachers and Excellent Mathematics Education for All (April 2024-Sept 2025)

A two-year, interdisciplinary, literary and empirical study. Principal Investigators: Dr Gosia Marschall (University of Cambridge, England); Dr Julia Hill (University of Melbourne, Australia)

The project responds directly to the growing concerns about teacher attrition rates, recruitment crises and declining teacher wellbeing ‘epidemic’, across both England and Australia. An overarching ‘big idea’ guiding this project relates to how mathematics teachers, across different stages of their teaching career, conceptualise their professional wellbeing. The novelty of the project speaks to subject specificity of teacher wellbeing – its main aim is to conceptualise a framework of mathematics teacher wellbeing (MTWB), which delineates specific factors interacting with this wellbeing and which speaks to operationalizable detail; a detail which can be used for designing comprehensive ITE programmes as well as in- service teacher workshops and collaborative initiatives which will help teachers thrive in the profession.

Teaching

• Postgraduate
  • Secondary Mathematics PGCE
  • Professional Studies PGCE
  • MPhil Mathematics Education
  • MPhil Transforming Practice (CoE Assessment)
  • MPhil Educational Leadership and Improvement (ELsI)
  • MPhil Research Methods strand

Principal and Recent Publications

Marschall, G. (under review) Towards a holistic model of Teacher Professional Growth

Marschall, G. (submitted) Making sense of affective experience in the process of Teacher Professional Learning

Marschall, G., Watson, S., Kimber, E., Major, L. (under review) A phenomenological study of a novice mathematics teacher’s instructional decision making.

Marschall, G., Sumpter, L., Watson, S. (under review) A phenomenological response to the discursive-cognitive ontological dichotomy debate in beliefs research

Dede, Y., Marschall, G., Clarkson, P. (Eds.) (in print) Values and Valuing in Mathematics Education: Moving forward into Practice. Springer.

Christiansen, I., Marschall, G., Corriveau, C. (2023) Editorial: Theories and theorising in mathematics education and how they inform teacher education. Frontiers in Education, 8. doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1298455

Watson, S., Dawes, M., Marschall, G. (2023). The role of mentoring when learning through experience. In Archer, R., Morgan, S., Swanson, D. (Eds.) A practical guide for mentoring beginning mathematics teachers. Chapter 1. Routledge.

Marschall, G. (2023) Teacher self-efficacy sources during Secondary Mathematics Initial Teacher Education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 132, 1-12. doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104203

Marschall, G., & Watson, S. (2022). Teacher self-efficacy as an aspect of narrative self-schemata. Teaching and Teacher Education, 109, 1-10. doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103568

Marschall, G. (2021) The role of teacher identity in teacher self-efficacy development: the case of Katie. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 25, 725-747. doi.org/10.1007/s10857-021-09515-2

Watson, S., & Marschall, G. (2019). How a trainee mathematics teacher develops teacher self-efficacy. Teacher Development, 23(4), 469-487. doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2019.1633392

Marschall, G., & Andrews, P. (2015). Polish teachers’ conceptions of and approaches to the teaching of linear equations to grade six students: An exploratory case study. Research in Mathematics Education, 17(3), 220-238. doi.org/10.1080/14794802.2015.1107498

Marschall, G., & Watson, S. (2019a). Social cognitive theory as an integrated theory of mathematics teachers’ professional learning. Proceedings from the Conference of the International Group for Psychology of Mathematics Education, PME43, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Marschall, G., & Watson, S. (2019b). Teacher self-efficacy: A belief about personal teaching capabilities or about capabilities to bring about desired educational outcomes? Conference on Research in Mathematics Education in Ireland, MEI7, Dublin City University, Ireland.