Value/Need for Project
The importance of teacher education to the future economic development and social well-being of Australia is well recognised (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training, 2007). Many recent reports have also pointed to a lack of mathematicians and mathematics teachers (e.g., Brown, 2009; Australian Council of Deans of Science Report (ACDS), 2006; Australian Academy of Science, 2006) and the importance of appropriate pre-service education for teachers (Human Capital Working Group, Council of Australian Governments, 2008). Australian researchers have an active research agenda about the mathematical understandings of pre-service teachers (Goos et al, 2008). There is, however, a lack of systematic evidence-based teaching that relates to imminent national standards while catering for local differences in student intakes. This project aims to address this deficiency.
At present there is no agreed consensus, for example, about the appropriate balance between mathematics content knowledge, general knowledge of teaching and specific pedagogical knowledge about teaching mathematics in pre-service education courses. The impacts on pre-service teacher outcomes of such things as the various modes of delivery that are employed, mathematics educator characteristics, and programme structures, including the place of the practicum, are also poorly understood. Without such knowledge, improvement of teacher preparation for teaching mathematics is difficult, and subject to prevailing views rather than being based on hard data.
In addition, ways in which changes should be best implemented to maximise effectiveness of pre-service teacher mathematics education are also untested. This project uses a cascade approach in which institutions will build leadership capacity to further disseminate tools and findings within and between institutions in their local context.
Beyond mathematics education, the project will assist in embedding an evidence-based teaching culture in Australian universities by modelling a process by which such a culture can be fostered, and by developing the leadership capacities of all participants in the project.
At present there is no agreed consensus, for example, about the appropriate balance between mathematics content knowledge, general knowledge of teaching and specific pedagogical knowledge about teaching mathematics in pre-service education courses. The impacts on pre-service teacher outcomes of such things as the various modes of delivery that are employed, mathematics educator characteristics, and programme structures, including the place of the practicum, are also poorly understood. Without such knowledge, improvement of teacher preparation for teaching mathematics is difficult, and subject to prevailing views rather than being based on hard data.
In addition, ways in which changes should be best implemented to maximise effectiveness of pre-service teacher mathematics education are also untested. This project uses a cascade approach in which institutions will build leadership capacity to further disseminate tools and findings within and between institutions in their local context.
Beyond mathematics education, the project will assist in embedding an evidence-based teaching culture in Australian universities by modelling a process by which such a culture can be fostered, and by developing the leadership capacities of all participants in the project.
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