Future teachers’ competence to plan a lesson

Periodical
ZDM Mathematics Education
Volume
40
Year
2008
Issue number
5
Page range
749–762
Relates to study/studies
TEDS-M 2008

Future teachers’ competence to plan a lesson

 First results of a six-country study on the efficiency of teacher education

Abstract

The study "Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century (MT21)" focuses beyond others on the measurement of teachers’ general pedagogical knowledge (GPK). GPK is regarded as a latent construct embedded in a larger theory of teachers’ professional competence. It is laid out how GPK was defined and operationalized. As part of an international comparison GPK was measured with several complex vignettes. In the present paper, the results of future mathematics teachers’ knowledge from four countries (Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, and the US) with very different teacher-education systems are presented. Significant and relevant differences between the four countries as well as between future teachers at the beginning and at the end of teacher education were found. The results are discussed with reference to cultural discourses about teacher education.