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Family Background, Entry Selectivity and Opportunities to Learn: What Matters in Primary Teacher Education? An International Comparison of Fifteen Countries

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International Perspectives on Teacher Knowledge, Beliefs and Opportunities to Learn

Part of the book series: Advances in Mathematics Education ((AME))

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Abstract

First findings of IEA’s “Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M)” had revealed differences in the demographic background, prior knowledge, opportunities to learn (OTL), and outcomes of primary teacher education between future teachers from different countries. In this chapter, two hypotheses are examined: (1) OTL and teacher background are significant predictors of mathematics content knowledge (MCK) and mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK) as teacher education outcomes. (2) OTL effects are partly mediated by differential student teacher intake. Data from multilevel models reveal that effects on MCK are in general larger than on MPCK. Gender, prior knowledge and OTL in mathematics are significantly related to both types of outcomes whereas other background characteristics affect MPCK only. Motivation mediates the effects of prior knowledge and the OTL effects are partly mediated by teacher intake. Consequences for educational policy are discussed based on these results. Policymakers have on the one hand to be aware of the continuing problem of societal inequalities. Providing OTL in mathematics as well as increasing entrance selectivity may, on the other hand, have positive consequences for the outcomes of primary teacher education.

Adjusted version of Blömeke et al. (2012).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The international costs of TEDS-M were funded by the IEA, the US National Science Foundation (REC 0514431) and the participating countries. The instruments are copyrighted by the TEDS-M International Study Center at MSU (ISC). This publication was made possible by grant number BL 548/3-1 from the German Research Foundation (DFG). Any views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders or the ISC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, Humboldt University of Berlin, 10099, Berlin, Germany

    Sigrid Blömeke & Ute Suhl

  2. Department of Education, University of Hamburg, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Gabriele Kaiser

  3. Department of Sciences and Mathematics, University of Vechta, 49337, Vechta, Germany

    Martina Döhrmann

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  1. Sigrid Blömeke
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  2. Ute Suhl
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  3. Gabriele Kaiser
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  4. Martina Döhrmann
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Correspondence to Sigrid Blömeke .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Syst. Didaktik & Unterrichtsforschung, Berlin, Germany

    Sigrid Blömeke

  2. National Taiwan Normal University Department of Mathematics, Taipei, T´ai-pei, Taiwan

    Feng-Jui Hsieh

  3. Inst. Didaktik der Mathematik, Universität Hamburg FB Erziehungswissenschaft, Hamburg, Germany

    Gabriele Kaiser

  4. Michigan State University College of Education, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

    William H. Schmidt

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Blömeke, S., Suhl, U., Kaiser, G., Döhrmann, M. (2014). Family Background, Entry Selectivity and Opportunities to Learn: What Matters in Primary Teacher Education? An International Comparison of Fifteen Countries. In: Blömeke, S., Hsieh, FJ., Kaiser, G., Schmidt, W. (eds) International Perspectives on Teacher Knowledge, Beliefs and Opportunities to Learn. Advances in Mathematics Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6437-8_15

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