Target Audience: Mathematics educators fro both secondary and university, mathematics teacher trainers, curriculum developers, policy makers

Number of participants: 25-30

Goals: Participants will share experiences pertaining mathematics education in the university. Some of these challenges may be common and as mathematics educators we may together find solutions to some of the challenges.
Its important for me to attend such a conference where mathematics educators from all over the world gather so that we may learn from each other’s experience. I am a non – affluent country and I am not exposed to experiences from other countries and this might be my chance

Abstract

Clear disposition of mathematics instructions is a key to good performance in mathematics. Teacher pre-service training has a vital role in providing good quality mathematics teachers.

This study was investigating on how colleges prepare mathematics teachers to teach in primary and secondary schools. It also investigated the impact of this preparation on their performance as mathematics teachers. Data were collected through interviews with teacher trainers and with primary and secondary school mathematics teachers. The other data were collected from textbooks, handbooks and syllabi which students/ student teachers use in schools/colleges.

The results have shown that, in primary school teacher training colleges, emphasis is put on methodology. Only basics of the selected topics are learnt but the mathematics content that they are prepared to teach remains a challenge to most of them. At Chancellor College and Domasi College of education which train secondary school teachers, most of the mathematics content which is taught is not relevant to that which is taught in secondary schools. Most of the mathematics content learnt in these college is used in applied sciences such as engineering. They never use it in their profession as secondary school mathematics teachers.

Based on the present study, this paper discusses both pedagogical and policy implications on mathematics teacher education and it strongly recommend that both primary and secondary school teachers should be well prepared in both content and methodology.