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.