An Analysis of Teacher Education Context, Structure and Quality Assurance in TEDS-M Countries

The IEA Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M) represents the first ever large-scale international study of the preparation of primary and lower-secondary teachers. The study investigated the pedagogical and subject specific knowledge that future primary and lower-secondary school teachers acquire during their mathematics teacher education. It also examined variations in teacher education programs within and across countries. TEDS-M gathered data in 2008 from approximately 22,000 future teachers from 750 programs in about 500 teacher education institutions in 17 countries. Teaching staff within these programs (close to 5,000 mathematics and general pedagogy educators) were also surveyed.

The study identified striking differences within and across countries in the knowledge that future teachers have of school mathematics and how to teach it. This current report’s major results show that countries where future teachers have greater knowledge of mathematics and mathematics teaching pedagogy place greatest emphasis on policies that enable the teaching profession to compete for high-ability secondary school graduates, balance teacher demand and supply, ensure a rigorous system of assessment/accreditation of teacher education programs, and set high standards for entry to the profession (i.e., gaining registration licensing) after graduation. These results are consistent with teacher education policy discussions occurring nationally and internationally about the most successful processes for assuring teacher quality. Such policies typically start with those designed to make teaching an attractive career and to ensure the quality of entrants to teacher education programs. They continue on to those focused on developing and implementing strong quality-assurance mechanisms throughout the teacher education cycle.