Mathematics teachers’ professional noticing: Transfer of a video-based competence assessment instrument into teacher education for evaluation purposes

Abstract

Teacher noticing has become widely accepted as a principal component of teacher competence; it is supported during university teacher education in many activities. However, only a few high-quality standardized measurement instruments exist that capture noticing and allow valid interpretations of how its development depends on factors within university teacher education. The present study is based on a video-based test instrument that has been developed to enable a standardized study of the noticing of practicing mathematics teachers—that is, their perception, interpretation, and decision-making skills—with respect to subject-specific and general pedagogical issues in secondary mathematics classrooms. This study examines how this instrument developed for in-service teachers can be used for pre-service teachers at the master’s degree level. Based on a sample of 313 pre-service mathematics teachers enrolled in six German universities, the study investigates (1) the instrument’s internal structure (scaling models based on item response theory) and (2) its association with relevant factors within university teacher education. The results reveal that a scaling model based on the three noticing facets (perception, interpretation, and decision-making) was superior to a one-dimensional scaling model. Opportunity to learn in mathematics education and average grades in final secondary school examinations were shown to be significant predictors of test performance. However, there was no effect for university-specific opportunity to learn in general pedagogy or pedagogical experiences outside teacher education. Overall, the results suggest that the measurement instrument can be used to assess pre-service mathematics teachers’ noticing in university teacher education.