ANALYZING MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM MATERIALS IN SWEDEN AND FINLAND: DEVELOPING AN ANALYTICAL TOOL Kirsti Hemmi, Tuula Koljonen, Lena Hoelgaard, Linda Ahl, and Andreas Ryve Mälardalen University, Sweden This paper aims to contribute to two interrelated areas. Firstly, it adds new insights into the variation of curriculum materials within and between two countries, Sweden and Finland, with respect to their potential to contribute to various kinds of teacher learning. Secondly, it aims to build on and develop an analytical tool for analyzing curriculum materials. To accomplish these aims we explored two teacher’s guides from each country, applying a tool derived from the context of science education. The analysis reveals substantial differences between all four materials concerning the categories in the analytical tool. We suggest how the analytical tool could be developed to more deeply explore its potential for supporting qualitatively varied teacher learning. Key words: analytical tool, comparative study, curriculum materials, mathematics teacher’s guides, teacher learning INTRODUCTION Curriculum materials such as commercially produced textbooks and teacher’s guides have a strong presence in mathematics education in large part of the world. These materials are typically a major resource for teachers’ planning and practice (Stein et al., 2007; Jablonka & Johansson 2010). One of the tasks of curriculum materials is to bring different discourses together (Jaworski, 2009). On the one hand, there is an academic conceptualization from which the intended curriculum derives and, on the other hand, the socio-cultural settings where teaching and learning occur: the enacted curriculum. Writers of curriculum materials may therefore interpret the intended curriculum and adjust to the socio-cultural settings to function as a bridge between the two different discourses. From this perspective, curricular materials serve as an important tool for teachers in both enabling and constraining their thoughts and actions (Stein et al., 2007). Further, curriculum materials are not only important resources for teachers in designing teaching (Stylianides, 2007), but also for teacher learning (Doerr & Chandler-Olcott, 2009). For instance, Remillard (2000) and Davis and Krajcik (2005) emphasize that curriculum materials could productively contribute to teachers’ professional development if they encompass an elaborated attention to the process of enacting the curriculum. Therefore, potentially, well- designed curriculum materials could create opportunities for teacher learning. There exists no role model for how to design such materials, since teachers’ use of, and learning from, curriculum materials are related to their experience, knowledge and the particular classroom situation. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge about teacher’s guides and their potential for various kinds of teacher learning in two