Teaching and Teacher Education 19 (2003) 75–94 Learning to teach with mandated curriculum and public examination of teaching as contexts Jian Wang a, * ,1 , Lynn W. Paine b a Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Nevada, Box 453005 Las Vegas, NV 89154-3005, USA b Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University, 317 Erickson Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA Received 15 June 2001; received in revised form 29 April 2002; accepted 21 May 2002 Abstract This case study explores how a Chinese beginning teacher developed her professional knowledge of mathematics instruction under the influences of a mandated curriculum and a contrived teaching organization. It finds that the teacher was able to develop a mathematics lesson that engaged students in discovering mathematics ideas and making sense of their relationships and her way of teaching was influenced directly and indirectly by the nature of the mandated curriculum and teaching organization in the context of her work. Her exploration of the mandated curriculum individually and with her colleagues contributed to her understanding about mathematics concepts and their representations. Other teachers’ systematic observations and discussions about her teaching with a focus on pedagogical content knowledge helped her develop and refine her teaching strategies. Such a focus was again shaped by the ways in which the mandated curriculum and teaching organization are structured. Some shared concepts in mandated curriculum and the teachers’ working language mediated her understanding of the curriculum and other teachers’ examinations about her instruction. The study indicates that the ways in which the mandated curriculum is structured and teachers are organized may help teachers develop the necessary professional knowledge for teaching. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Teacher education in china; Case study; Mandated curriculum; Learning to teach; Teachers’ professional knowledge Scholars often hold different ideas regarding whether contrived curriculum and teaching orga- nization or teachers’ autonomy in making teaching decisions is necessary for developing teachers’ professional knowledge and quality teaching practice. Drawing on data from a Chinese begin- ning teacher and her colleagues, we argue that the contrived curriculum and teaching organiza- tion and the autonomy teachers have in making their teaching decisions are not always contra- dictory in influencing the quality of teachers’ knowledge and their teaching practice. Depend- ing on the ways in which they are organized, the contrived curriculum and teachers’ relation- ships can play an important role in developing teachers’ professional knowledge and offering them the necessary autonomy to make teaching decisions. *Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-702-434-7191, 702-895- 1750; fax: +1-702-895-4898. E-mail addresses: wangj2@UNLV.edu (J. Wang), painel@pilot.msu.edu (L.W. Paine). 1 Home address: 1734 Maverick Court, Henderson, NV 89014, USA. 0742-051X/03/$-see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0742-051X(02)00087-2