Maria Teresa Tatto

Michael C. Rodriguez

Mark D. Reckase

Wendy M. Smith

Kiril Bankov

James Pippin

This book reports on an innovative study into the first five years of mathematics teaching: FIRSTMATH. For the first time, the study has developed a viable methodology to analyze the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of beginning mathematics teachers as well as instruments to explore the contexts where they work. The book provides a step by step account of this exploratory (proof-of-concept) research study, using a comparative and international approach, and introduces readers to the challenges entailed. The FIRSTMATH study promises the development of methods and strategies to make it possible for teacher educators and future teachers to examine (and improve on) their own practices in an important STEM area.

Concepts, Methods and Strategies for Comparative International Research

The First Five Years of Teaching Mathematics (FIRSTMATH)

This book uses the publicly available TEDS-M data to answer such questions as: How does teacher education contribute to the learning outcomes of future teachers? Are there programs that are more successful than others in helping teachers learn to teach mathematics? How does the local and national policy environment contribute to teacher education outcomes? It invites readers to explore these questions across a large number of international settings. The importance of preparing future mathematics teachers has become a priority across many nations. Across the globe nations have allocated resources and expertise to this endeavour. Yet in spite of the importance accorded to teacher education not much is known about different approaches to preparing knowledgeable teachers and whether these approaches do in fact achieve their purpose. The Mathematics Teacher Education and Development Study (TEDS-M) is the first, and to date the only, cross-national study using scientific and representative samples to provide empirical data on the knowledge that future mathematics teachers of primary and secondary school acquire in their teacher education programs. The study addresses the central importance of teacher knowledge in learning to teach mathematics by examining variation in the nature and influence of teacher education programs within and across countries. The study collected data on teacher education programs structure, curriculum and opportunities to learn, on teacher educators’ characteristics and beliefs, and on future mathematics teachers’ individual characteristics, beliefs, and mathematics and pedagogical knowledge across 17 countries providing a unique opportunity to explore enduring questions in the field.

Exploring the Mathematical Education of Teachers Using TEDS-M Data

Ian Thompson

Katharine Burn

Ian Menter

Trevor Mutton

Learning to Teach in England and the United States studies the evolution of initial teacher education by considering some of the current approaches in England and the United States. Presenting empirical evidence from these two distinct political and historical contexts, the chapters of this thought-provoking volume illustrate the tensions involved in preparing teachers who are working in ever-changing environments. Grounded in the lived experiences of those directly affected by these shifting policy environments, the book questions if reforms that have introduced accountability regimes and new kinds of partnership with the promise of improving teaching and learning, have contributed to more powerful learning experiences in schools for those entering the profession. The authors consider the relationships between global, national and local policy, and question their potential impact on the future of teacher education and teaching more generally. The research adopts an innovative methodology and sociocultural theoretical framework designed to show greater insights into the ways in which beginning teachers’ learning experiences are shaped by relationships at all of these levels. A key emerging issue is that of the alignment – or not – between the values and dispositions of the individuals and the institutions that are involved. This book will appeal to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of teacher education, comparative education, higher education, and education policy and politics.

The Evolution of Policy and Practice

Learning to Teach in England and the United States

Maria Teresa Tatto

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