Imagining possibilities: innovating mathematics (teacher) education for sustainable futures

We report on an action research study conducted by two mathematics teacher educators in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. The project consisted of three phases, the first two taking place in our respective teacher education courses and a final phase where prospective mathematics teachers from both locations engaged in dialogue through a speculative fiction task. We explored how our prospective teachers can be supported in becoming mathematics teachers for sustainable futures by innovating our mathematics teacher education curricula. This study suggests that generative methods which support teachers in speculating on paths to potential futures, can provide access to how prospective teachers negotiate issues in relation to the climate crisis and ways they conceive of related changes in their practices. Through offering tasks that support the expansion of what is viewed as contingent by prospective teachers, teacher educators can better support the development of teaching practices needed for sustainable futures.