Author Description

The IEA Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M) is the first 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: Botswana, Canada (four provinces), Chile, Chinese Taipei, Georgia, Germany, Malaysia, Norway, Oman (secondary teacher education), the Philippines, Poland, the Russian Federation, Singapore, Spain (primary teacher education), Switzerland (German-speaking cantons), Thailand, and the United States of America (public institutions, concurrent and consecutive routes only). Teaching staff within these programs (close to 5,000 mathematics and general pedagogy educators) were also surveyed. This encyclopedia provides a resource that readers can draw from when analyzing the context-based similarities and differences that are important to keep in mind when interpreting and explaining the TEDS-M results. The encyclopedia thus strengthens the reporting of this first international assessment of teacher education. It presents a broader context within which the data collected from future teachers and their educators can be understood and interpreted. Elements of this context include information about countries' distinctive political, historical, and cultural contexts that influence policy and practice in mathematics teacher education. It also describes the organization and characteristics of teacher education in the participating countries, the institutions that teach future teachers and their staff, the programs and required field experiences, and the quality-assurance arrangements. In combination wi