The Mathematical Education of School Teachers: Role and Responsibilities of University Mathematicians

Abstract

The preparation of mathematics teachers for the primary and secondary school is a multifaceted task. It spans various periods of the teachers’ life, encompassing their experiences first as pupils, then as undergraduate students and finally as professionals learning from their own action and from in-service activities. Although relatively short, the formal part of this preparation is definitely crucial. Besides the need to include actual teaching practice as early as possible (i.e., working with pupils in real classrooms), three components of this preparation can be identified, which reflect the belonging and interests of the university educators responsible for the formal education of teachers: mathematics itself, didactics of mathematics and psychology of learning. The focus of this paper is on the first of these components. Mathematicians have a major and unique role to play in the education of teachers — they are neither the sole nor the main contributors to this complex process, but their participation is essential. Maybe this will be seen as a truism, at least in connection with the preparation of secondary school mathematics teacher. But I wish nonetheless to present here some comments about the context in which this role can and should be played. I also want to support the view that mathematicians should take part in the education of primary school teachers. I see such an involvement as important because of the perspective on mathematics itself mathematicians can bring to student teachers. Moreover, I believe this involvement can be a source of gratifying and stimulating mathematical moments for the mathematicians themselves. In the final part of this paper, I will briefly suggest a few examples of mathematical topics which, from my experience, nicely illustrates the richness of the mathematical content pertaining to student teachers, both of the primary and secondary level. But first I want to examine some aspects of the role and responsibilities of mathematicians in the preparation of schoolteachers, in particular from an historical perspective.