Inservice teacher education should be an important consideration
in mathematics education. Teachers are the primary determinant of how the
mathematics curriculum gets implemented in the classroom. Thus, ongoing
professional development experiences are necessary to facilitate growth
in their thinking, knowledge and understanding of mathematics and its
teaching and learning. There are two categories of teachers of
mathematics in our secondary schools: those who have been educated to
teach mathematics and those who have not, i.e., non-mathematics teachers.
This suggests that in addition to continuing education for mathematics
teachers, there be specific consideration for the re-education of the
non-mathematics teachers.
This working group will discuss some of the current issues and challenges
in inservice secondary mathematics teacher education with particular
focus on the Canadian situation and some global issues associated with
teacher education. The group's activities will include identifying and
discussing:
The existence or non-existence of inservice professional learning
opportunities in each province. Examples of inservice
programs/models/approaches for mathematics teachers used in the various
provinces. Examples of re-education programs for non-mathematics teachers
used in the various provinces. What works, what can be improved? What can
be done to deal with any shortage of inservice and re-education programs
across Canada?
Global issues such as: The contexts/characteristics of inservice
secondary mathematics teachers that influence the nature of professional
learning activities. The characteristics, e.g., beliefs, of these
teachers that need to be influenced by professional learning
opportunities. Trends in the thinking about, and practices within,
mathematics teacher education. Exemplars of programs/models/approaches
for inservice teacher education used in other countries. The relevance of
these to the Canadian situation.
