Prospective Mathematics Teachers’ Opinions About Their Opportunities for Learning How to Teach to a Diverse Group of Students

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze prospective elementary mathematics teachers’ opinions about how often teacher training programs provide opportunities for learning how to teach to diverse groups of students. The study employed survey method. The sample used consists of 1386 prospective elementary mathematics teachers in their last year of training at 21 state universities in twelve regions of Turkey. One-Way ANOVA test was applied to reveal how prospective teachers’ responses about the opportunities they had for learning how to teach to diverse students vary among regions with different levels of development. The study found that the prospective teachers in Turkey ‘sometimes’ get the opportunity to learn about teaching to diverse groups of students. ANOVA analysis revealed that the prospective teachers’ opinions about learning to teach to diverse groups of students vary significantly between different regions of Turkey. In other words, the universities in Turkey cannot be characterized as homogenous in terms of learning opportunities for teaching to a diverse group of students. Hence, more diligence and detailed analysis is called for when interpreting the results of comparative international studies on education, where countries are often construed as homogeneous wholes.