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The topic survey on the education of prospective secondary mathematics teachers (PSMTs) provides significant new trends and development in research and practices related to aspects of preparing PSMTs from 2005 – 2015. An overview of the current state-of-the-art and recent research reports from an international perspective are provided. The development of PSMTs’ mathematics content and pedagogical content knowledge, the emergence of PSMTs’ professional identities, PSMTs’ field experiences, and the impact of the increasing availability of various technological devices and resources on preparing PSMTs are discussed. The authors conducted a thorough review of the literature by examining major journals in the field of mathematics education and some well-known cross country studies. In the report, dominant methodologies and theoretical perspectives are addressed as well as main findings to indicate current trends.

This chapter focuses on research on pre-service secondary school mathematics teachers’ (PSMT) knowledge. Fifty-nine papers were reviewed and each paper was coded according to its research focus, theoretical and methodological framework, main findings and the contribution of the study. We identified three main thematic areas to frame the discussion of the papers: the exploration of knowledge, the impact of teacher education on its development, and the process that this knowledge develops. The review shows that: both small-scale and large-scale studies continue to recognize different aspects of teacher knowledge and indicate certain difficulties of PSMTs; a large number of teacher education practices have a positive impact on PSMTs’ knowledge; research has started to focus on the process of how PSMTs’ knowledge develops either in mathematical or in teaching discourses.

A systematic literature review suggests three positive conclusions. First, engagement with technologies could enhance PSMTs’ understanding of subject knowledge and develop their positive attitudes toward using technologies. Second, incorporation of mathematics technology and practice-based video cases in teaching methods courses could help PSMTs develop their pedagogical knowledge and knowledge about student learning. Moreover, incorporating technologies in mathematics and methods courses and connecting courses with field experiences could promote PSMTs’ awareness of implementing student-centered mathematics instruction and help them identify as technology innovators. Third, PSMTs’ progress in facilitating student thinking, reasoning, and problem solving seemed elusive. Preparing PSMTs to teach secondary mathematics with technology remains an important endeavor and an emerging research area in need of systematic studies and a global effort to develop a cohesive body of literature.

The prospective secondary mathematics teachers (PSMTs)’ identity development is a complex process that includes the personal, professional, intellectual, moral, and political dimensions of prospective teachers and the groups in which they are involved. Analyzing how PSMTs construct their identities in the spaces and moments offered and promoted by pre-service education is an important issue. Identity is a construct widely investigated in a number of research fields, such as sociology, anthropology, social psychology, and education and has a variety of interpretations. Even though identity is a relatively new notion within the field of mathematics education it is seen as a relevant area of study within mathematics teacher education research, and some researchers have used it as a theoretical lens. In this survey we analyzed research studies related to the professional identities of prospective secondary mathematics teachers.

The abstract is listed below: Field experiences provide PSMTs with the opportunity to demonstrate their content and pedagogical knowledge while working with students under the supervision of a mentor teacher and a university supervisor in most situations. The studies included in this survey focused on different aspects of field experiences provided to PSMTs—field experiences connected to methods courses, use of video cases as a virtual field experiences, and summative student teaching experiences. These studies provide useful insights into effective field experiences for PSMTs. 17 articles were examined and most of them are qualitative in nature. The survey also revealed that there is a need for more studies related to field experiences and their impact on PSMTs’ development.

Throughout the survey one can see that there is a steady growth in the research around prospective secondary mathematics teacher education. Also several of the studies were repeated in at least two of the sections due to the nature of the factors that were studied. It is difficult to write about teacher knowledge without some acknowledgment of how knowledge or lack of knowledge can impact teachers’ mathematics identities. Furthermore, field experiences are contexts in which PSMTs’ knowledge and identities are impacted and shaped. In addition, the survey revealed that mathematics education researchers are thinking more deeply about how to foster the growth of effective mathematics teachers in a myriad of ways.