Assessing Factors Influencing Pre-Service Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) Mathematics in Ghanaian Basic Schools

Abstract

Introduction: Knowledge about teaching mathematics remains a contentious issue in the preparation of pre-service teachers. This study assessed factors influencing pre-service teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) mathematics in Ghanaian basic schools.Methods: The cross-sectional survey design was adopted for this study. A total of 998 pre-service teachers from ten (10) public colleges of education were sampled via multi-stage sampling technique for the study. Structured questionnaire and unstructured observation schedule were used to conduct the survey. Secondary data was also collected in the form of mathematics test results. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22 was used to analyse the data using descriptive statistics (frequency count, percentage) and inferential statistics (Pearson's correlation, multiple regression, exploratory factor analysis).Results: The study revealed that many pre-service teachers in Ghanaian public colleges of education had weak mathematics content knowledge. The following factors influenced MKT of the pre-service teachers: gender, ways of imparting mathematics knowledge, perception about mathematics as a subject, perception about mathematics teaching and learning and attitudes towards mathematics (p < .05).Conclusions: This study exploring the factors that influence pre-service teachers' MKT suggests that, to be able to build effective mathematics teacher base in any basic school, there must be effective training on factors like gender, perception, and attitude. There is therefore the need for the National Council for Tertiary Education to emphasis on factors that influence MKT besides the content of the college of education mathematics curriculum.

Preservice mathematics teacher knowledge of higher order thinking skills

“…This shows that the skill of using knowledge in solving non-routine problems requires the involvement of the ability to connect various concepts, experience involved in problem solving activities and complete prerequisite knowledge which is also influenced by the amount of time available for learning, the characteristics of the instructor and the content being studied [37]. Besides that, Narh-Kert and Ampadu [38] revealed that the factors that influence the ability of preservice teachers of mathematics are the way of conveying knowledge of mathematics, perceptions of mathematics as a subject, perceptions of teaching and learning mathematics and attitudes towards mathematics. Of these various factors, attitudes to mathematics tend to underlie the mathematical performance of preservice mathematics teachers [39].…”

“…Academic ability is a combination of learning experience and skills to use knowledge consistently in life that provides long-term retention of information. The ability of a preservice teacher is influenced by perceptions about mathematics, the curriculum, the learning process, the relevance of theory and practice, gender, and attitudes towards mathematics [38], [41]. These factors, in addition to affecting general math skills, also affect the HOTS of preservice teachers because mathematics is actually about thinking processes and not just calculating skills.…”