University of Oslo Workshops June 29-30 Conference July 1-3 ...

Sampling Design for the Teacher Education and Development Study in
Mathematics (TEDS-M): Challenges, Solutions, Restrictions
Sabine Meinck, IEA Data Processing and Research Center, Germany
Jean Dumais, Methodology Branch, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Canada
The Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M) focuses on
how teachers are prepared to teach mathematics in primary and lower secondary schools in
seventeen countries. This is the first large-scale assessment in teacher education using
statistical sampling. The demanding study goals, combining four target populations into
one survey on the one hand, and the complexity and differences of the teacher education
systems in participating countries, on the other hand, posed particular challenges to design
a multi-purpose international sampling plan. The four target populations of the TEDS-M
study are teacher preparation institutions, future primary and lower secondary mathematics
teachers, and their educators, for which reliable estimates of their main characteristics were
required. The overall achieved participation rates in most countries complied with the
demanding standards set by TEDS-M and therefore ensure a high validity of the data
collected. Although high technical standards were maintained, certain restrictions must be
put on data analysis and on the interpretation of the results. Data observed from
populations with low participation rates will be annotated as such in the forthcoming
international reports. Further, specific structural or political circumstances made it
necessary for some countries to implement sampling or operational procedures that
deviated from the international design. Cross-country comparisons must be made with
caution; results always need to be embedded into adequate contextual explanations.
Experiences gained throughout the implementation of this study can contribute valuably to
the specification of sampling designs in further studies in higher education.
Keywords: sampling; survey methodology; teacher education; TEDS-M 2008
Expertise of Future Teachers: On the Relationship of Mathematics Content
Knowledge, Mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge and General
Pedagogical Knowledge
Johannes König, University of Cologne, Germany
Sigrid Blömeke, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
Teacher expertise consists of cognitive and affective-motivational components. Based on
TEDS-M data, our study examines the structure of the cognitive components of future
mathematics teachers in their final year of training. According to Shulman (1986) three
sub-dimensions can be distinguished. In case of mathematics teachers, these are
mathematics content knowledge (MCK), mathematics pedagogical content knowledge
(MPCK), and general pedagogical knowledge (GPK). However, teacher expertise requires
interlinking these components in order to perform successfully in class (Berliner, 2001).
We ask (1) in general and (2) for subgroups whether teacher knowledge (TK) has a
homogeneous structure or should better be differentiated according to the assumed three
cognitive components. The German and US TEDS-M samples are used to test these
hypotheses since the two countries included an additional test instrument that allowed
rigorous measurement of GPK. Given the point in time – future teachers at the end of their
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