Secondary Math Preservice Teachers' Perceptions of Program (In)Coherence

• In Event: Studying and Improving Math Teacher Preparation

Abstract

We investigated how 13 secondary mathematics preservice teachers perceived their teacher education program as coherent, specifically attending to the ideas and practices PSTs engaged with and the settings in which they engaged with those ideas/practices. We found that PSTs experienced two main sources of incoherence. First, PSTs reported incoherence between two opposing instructional approaches, direct instruction and inquiry-based instruction, especially as the former was experienced in many more settings. Second, although PSTs reported learning about equity from multiple settings, they did not perceive that equity and instruction together were coherently organized. Implications for teacher education will be discussed.

Authors

• Phi Nguyen, University of Missouri

• Charles Munter, University of Missouri