Huge economical investments have been done in Sweden to develop math education; still TIMSS (2007) shows deteriorate result compared to earlier studies. Furthermore, PISA (2009) shows that the part of low performing students significantly has increased. However, a powerful influence on pupils learning result that has been found lately is trustful relations between the pupils and the teacher (Hattie, 2009) – a professional competence teachers probably are more or less incline to develop. I have met some teachers who manage to meet pupils' differences in teaching, and I am fascinated by their social and relational professionalism. They are genuinely interested, and succeed in addressing pupils' diverse questions and experiences. They show a relational professionalism which seems to have been developed in practice since they left university. How can these social, relational and ethical dimensions of math teaching become visible and put into words for future teacher education? Today these aspects are not in focus of math teaching programs in universities, nor in the field of math education research. Referring to Aspelin & Persson (2011), I see a study which aims to reveal and improve the understanding and the importance of relation processes in education.

My research proposal is based on a unique selection process. The Childs Rights Convention (2007) emphasizes the child's right to education (Article 28) where the education should be aimed at developing the child's full potential in terms of personality, talents, physical and mental capacity (Article 29). It is essential to realize the child's right to be heard and respected within children's involvement in the learning process (Article 12). In this study the pupils have described to me as a researcher, some teachers who succeed in their relational work and could be of importance to study. This is an important child perspective that is seldom used in research. By following this group of teachers in practice I will focus on how they create, develop and maintain successful relational processes. Another question is if they develop a dialogue with mutual consideration of diversity, where differences and respect for the Other person (Levinas, 1969) is included? An unpredictable process in which one can never know how the Other responds in the next moment (Aspelin 2010; Ljungblad: 2010; Ljungblad & Lennerstad, 2011). How do these teachers handle diversity in education – as a disturbance from the outside or not? This is an interesting research question within math culture when all children learn mathematics, and presents an opportunity where new professional knowledge can be developed.

This study intends to build upon the following approaches;

        Pedagogical relational work  (Mead, 1934; Buber, 1994; Aspelin, 2010)

        Socio-cultural and historical theory  (Vygotsky, 1978; Säljö, 2000)

        Power, Ethics, Diversity and Differences (Arendt, 2008; Levinas, 1969; Biesta, 2006; Säfström, 2005)

“In the beginning is the relationship” said Buber (1994), which is an unusual theoretical approach within teaching mathematics. Linell (2009) refers to Salgado & Ferreira (2005) that the dialogist world-view would emphasize inter-subjectivity rather than subjectivity, and it would endorse ontologies of dynamic processes and relations.

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