Pre-service teachers’ views on dealing with students’ heterogeneous needs in the mathematics classroom

Abstrakti

Views of mathematics teachers can influence teachers’ noticing, teachers’ actions in the classroom, as well as the development of their professional knowledge. Consequently, and against the background of the demands related to dealing with heterogeneous learning prerequisites, teachers’ views in this area and their specific self-efficacy are particularly interesting. For its high relevance for practice contexts, the empirical evidence base in this area needs to be broadened. This study responds to the related research need by exploring profiles of pre-service teachers’ views on dealing with heterogeneous learning prerequisites and related aspects of self-efficacy. Moreover, interdependencies with global instruction-related views are examined. The results from a questionnaire study with 49 pre-service teachers indicate substantial variation of pre-service teachers’ views, which should be taken into account in teacher education. Perspectives for follow-up research are discussed, in which the newly developed reliable scales can provide an access to investigating also the development of teachers’ views.