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Knowledge of Future Primary Teachers for Teaching Mathematics: An International Comparative Study

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International Perspectives on Teacher Knowledge, Beliefs and Opportunities to Learn

Part of the book series: Advances in Mathematics Education ((AME))

Abstract

This article reports the results of the Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M) that are related to prospective primary teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics. TEDS-M was conducted under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement with additional support from the US National Science Foundation and the participating countries. In 2008 more than 15,000 future primary teachers, enrolled in about 450 institutions that prepare future primary teachers, were surveyed. Two domains of knowledge for teaching mathematics were assessed using items that had been developed and validated in a cross-national field trial. Large differences in the structure of teacher preparation programs are reported. Differences in mathematical content knowledge (MCK) and mathematical pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK) were also observed both within and between programs and countries. Anchor points on the MCK and MPCK scales are used to describe qualitative characteristics of knowledge for teaching mathematics.

Originally published in ZDM—The International Journal on Mathematics Education.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    NSF grant number REC 0514431. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF or the IEA.

  2. 2.

    TEDS-M is directed by a Joint Management Committee consisting of Maria Teresa Tatto (chair), John Schwille and Sharon L. Senk of Michigan State University; Lawrence Ingvarson, Ray Peck, and Glenn Rowley of the Australian Council for Educational Research; and ex-officio members from the IEA and Statistics Canada.

  3. 3.

    Canada was unable to satisfy the minimum sample size requirements set by the study and consequently results for Canada do not appear in Sect. 5.

  4. 4.

    For Oman, only future secondary teachers participated in the TEDS-M study.

  5. 5.

    The software package WinW3S was provided by the IEA and used in each National Research Center to select the samples of future teachers. This software also allows reliable documentation of the whole sampling process. Sampling errors were computed using a well-established re-sampling method, specifically BRR (balanced half-sample repeated replication).

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Acknowledgements

The authors of this article gratefully acknowledge Michael Rodriguez, University of Minnesota; Jean Dumais, Statistics Canada; Falk Brese, Ralph Carstens, Barbara Malak, Sabine Meinck, and Hans Wagemaker of the IEA; and our colleagues from the National Research Centers in the 17 participating countries.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Sharon L. Senk, Maria Teresa Tatto & Mark Reckase

  2. Australian Council for Educational Research, 19 Prospect Hill Rd, Camberwell, 3124, Australia

    Glenn Rowley & Ray Peck

  3. Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, University of Sofia, James Bouchr bul., Sofia, Bulgaria

    Kiril Bankov

Authors
  1. Sharon L. Senk
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  2. Maria Teresa Tatto
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  3. Mark Reckase
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  4. Glenn Rowley
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  5. Ray Peck
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  6. Kiril Bankov
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Sharon L. Senk or Ray Peck .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Syst. Didaktik & Unterrichtsforschung, Berlin, Germany

    Sigrid Blömeke

  2. National Taiwan Normal University Department of Mathematics, Taipei, T´ai-pei, Taiwan

    Feng-Jui Hsieh

  3. Inst. Didaktik der Mathematik, Universität Hamburg FB Erziehungswissenschaft, Hamburg, Germany

    Gabriele Kaiser

  4. Michigan State University College of Education, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

    William H. Schmidt

Appendix

Appendix

This appendix shows the coding guides for the five constructed response sample items reproduced in this article. The items can be identified by their item IDs.

Correct Responses (Code 20)

Picture:

1

figure a
Picture:

2

figure b
Picture:

3

figure c
Picture:

4

figure d
Picture:

5 (Code 10)

figure e
Picture:

6 (Code 11)

figure f
Picture 7:

(Code 12)

figure g

Incorrect response (Code 70)

Picture:

8

figure h

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Senk, S.L., Tatto, M.T., Reckase, M., Rowley, G., Peck, R., Bankov, K. (2014). Knowledge of Future Primary Teachers for Teaching Mathematics: An International Comparative Study. In: Blömeke, S., Hsieh, FJ., Kaiser, G., Schmidt, W. (eds) International Perspectives on Teacher Knowledge, Beliefs and Opportunities to Learn. Advances in Mathematics Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6437-8_4

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