Mathematics Teachers' Social Representations and Identities Made Available to Immigrant Students

Immigrant students in mainstream schools join in social practices that are already structured by social representations. Representations have a crucial impact on how immigrant schoolchildren construct their learning experiences and the ways in which they make sense of themselves as learners. Immigrant students' transition processes are co-constructed with other social actors. In the school context, the teacher is a key person in helping them on creating new meanings, constructing new knowledge and establishing new relationships. Mathematics teachers' social representations, however consciously or not, mediate not only the actual content immigrant students may learn but also the identities they develop.