Results in mathematics on international knowledge surveys like Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA )and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) have become one of the most important factors for the perceived success or failure of schools and even entire education systems in the policy arena. In this article we explore the complex recontextualising processes that occur when translating educational policy into actual programmes for teachers’ education. First, the transnational education policy discourse(s) of teachers´ in-service training with a focus on mathematics will be explored. Second, we examine how this transnational discourse is recontextualised in a national policy discourse resulting in a national reform programme for in-service training of mathematics teachers in Sweden. In a third step, concrete teacher training courses in mathematics are examined. The result shows a convergence between the official policy discourse and the pedagogic recontextualising field in terms of a broad teaching repertoire and peer discussions about reflections on certain common objects of learning.

There is increasing interest in the provision of online professional development (OPD) for teachers. This case study contributes to the field of research on professional development in the context of activities and discourses relating to mathematics teachers’ synchronous oral communication online. The purpose of this article is to explore the activities on offer in this communication and to identify the discourses that mathematics teachers may create in their meaning-making activities. An analysis of an online community in the form of a professional development course for mathematics teachers has, therefore, been conducted. The analysis shows that there is a lack of reciprocal participation and a shortcoming in creating a reflective learning environment, which can probably be partly explained by the specific mode of digital conversation. The discourses created by the mathematics teachers in their meaning-making activities focused mainly on sharing experiences about the teaching of mathematics.