Abstract:

It is expected from the future teachers to lead their students to the ability and willingness to apply school knowledge in real life. Students should have an active and creative approach to problem solving, critical thinking and developed argumentation skills (Council of The European Union, 2018; Boaler, 2016; Hejný & Kuřina, 2015 et al.). However, international studies warn, that this is often not the case. The majority of teachers still practice traditional teacher-centered teaching which leads students more to the passive rather than active role (Jacobs at al., 2006). The problem, observed between experienced as well as between beginning teachers, does not have to be caused by the rejection of reform-based teaching. Researchers inform that there could be identified two main problems. On the one hand there exists a group of teachers which does not have enough knowledge. Even if this group of teachers agree with the reform-based ideology, they do not know how to apply it into the practice (Valoyes-Chávez, 2018). On the other hand, there is a group of teachers with acceptable knowledge about reform-based teaching. Even though they do not apply it into practice because the philosophy and methods are not rooted in their identity yet - they do not believe it enough (Gainsburg, 2012).

In a presented project, we decided to research factors, which influence the attitude of future mathematics teachers to the goals and teaching of mathematics. The goal of the research is to identify key points in the future mathematics teachers’ preparation, which influence their attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics and its teaching. Based on these identified key points we will formulate recommendations which should contribute to the development of students’ attitudes and hinder misconceived ideas about mathematics and its teaching.

In this paper we would like to describe the conducted research in details. We hope that our paper will inspire possible collaboration with our team in this subject and contribute towards such an important issue as future mathematics teachers attitudes.

References:
[1] Boaler, J., & Dweck, C. S. (2016). Mathematical mindsets: Unleashing students potential through creative math, inspiring messages and innovative teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, a Wiley Brand.
[2] Council of The European Union (2018, Jun 4). Council Recommendation of 22 May 2018 on key competences for lifelong learning. Retrieved from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32018H0604(01)&rid=7
[3] Gainsburg, J. (2012). Why new mathematics teachers do or don’t use practices emphasized in their credential program. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education,15(5), 359-379. doi:10.1007/s10857-012-9208-1
[4] Hejný, M., & Kuřina, F. (2015). Dítě, škola a matematika, Konstruktivistické prístupy k vyučování. [Child, school and mathematics, Constructivistics approach to the teaching]. Praha: Portál.
[5] Jacobs, J. K., Hiebert, J., Givvin, K. B., Hollingsworth, H., Garnier, H., & Wearne, D. (2006). Does Eighth-Grade Mathematics Teaching in the United States Align with the NCTM Standards? Results from the TIMSS 1995 and 1999 Video Studies. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education,37(1), 5-32. doi:DOI: 10.2307/30035050
[6] Valoyes-Chávez, L. (2018). On the making of a new mathematics teacher: Professional development, subjectivation, and resistance to change. Educational Studies in Mathematics,100(2), 177-191. doi:10.1007/s10649-018-9869-5

Keywords:

Attitudes, beliefs, future teachers, mathematics education, qualitative research.