On noticing (and) the theory-practice nexus in mathematics teacher education: Conceptualizing new Bourdieuian fields of social practice in field experience

Through a teacher educator’s study of her own practice as a faculty advisor (university supervisor), this paper focuses on studying theory-practice transitions with respect to mathematics pre-service teacher field experience. The purpose of the research study was to disrupt traditional discourses on these theory-practice transitions by reconceptualising the role of the faculty advisor through the development of a Teacher-Intern-Faculty Advisor (TIFA) Learning Community. Drawing on Bourdieu’s social field theory, this paper establishes the TIFA community as a productive space of collaboration and dialogue on the process of becoming a mathematics teacher. The paper proposes that this productive space functions as a new Bourdieuian field which rests in the theory-practice nexus and holds promise for deconstructing the scripts of fields in pre-service teacher education.