Pre-service teachers’ content knowledge for teaching basic school mathematics

Abstract

This study was to ascertain whether teacher trainees have adequate content knowledge for teaching basic school mathematics when they finally pass out as professional teachers. A total of 98 teacher trainees and 108 JSS final year students were conveniently sampled for the study. An achievement test was administered to teacher-trainees and students. The responses on the achievement test items were scored and mean scores computed. A t-test was conducted to determine whether statistically significant differences existed among the two groups of students. It was found out the achievement in mathematics of both the teacher-trainees and JSS pupils was poor. Although there was a significant difference between the teacher-trainees‟ and JSS pupils‟ mathematics achievement, the mean difference of their scores was quite small. It was recommended that specialisation in subject to teach by trainee teachers should be vigorously pursued.

Keywords: teacher trainees, content knowledge, mathematics achievement