Advances and Challenges of Collaboration as a Learning and Research Field for Mathematics Teachers

This chapter systematizes relevant issues highlighted by the papers presented at ICMI Study 25. Such issues are presented considering four perspectives: 1) different forms and meanings for collaboration; 2) what do we investigate, how do we investigate, and who investigates collaboration?; 3) the complex relations between collaborative groups and classroom practice; and 4) possibilities for scaling up collaborative professional development initiatives. Through the discussion of such perspectives, on the one hand, we seek to reflect on the advances and possibilities of collaboration considered as a field of investigation and as a process that promotes professional development. On the other hand, we aim to identify some of the challenges that collaboration confronts nowadays.