Reading Chilean pre-service and early in-service mathematics teachers’ narratives of error through the model of sociality of emotions

Abstract Contemporary educational frameworks emphasize the pedagogical value of engaging constructively with mistakes. Nevertheless, in mathematics classrooms, error is often treated as something to be avoided, or punished. This contradiction suggests that deeply rooted cultural dispositions impact both educators’ and students’ experiences of mathematical error. In this context, we sought to understand why error in mathematics continues to provoke discomfort and how these experiences are shaped by gender and other sociocultural factors. To explore these dynamics, we analyzed interviews with ten Chilean pre-service and early in-service mathematics teachers through the lens of Sara Ahmed’s model of sociality of emotions. These semi-structured interviews focused on participants’ experiences of error in mathematics, especially the emotional content of these experiences. Our analysis highlighted the consequences of negative emotions and the impact of gender in this area. Findings revealed that, despite error being formally accepted as integral to the learning process, it continues to provoke fear, shame, and apprehension about social or moral judgment. Such emotions can generate self-exclusion from classroom activities and inhibit learning practices. While we observed that women students were more likely to reduce their participation, our findings call into question the attribution of this to a pervasive narrative that naturalizes women’s supposed aversion to risk. The recognized epistemic authority of collectives and individuals, together with the meanings attached to their errors, shapes how the cost of failing in mathematics varies across people. This underlines the importance of addressing the social dimension of emotions in the mathematics classroom and in mathematics teacher education.