No abstract

Background Key elements of instructional quality include the teacher's ability to immediately react in domain‐specific classroom situations. Such skills – defined as action‐related skills – can only be validly assessed using authentic representations of real‐life teaching practice. However, research has not yet explained how teachers apply domain‐specific knowledge for teaching and to what extent action‐related skills are transferable from one domain to another. Aims Our study aims to examine (1) the relationship between action‐related skills, content knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge, and (2) the domain specificity of action‐related skills of (prospective) teachers in the two domains of mathematics and economics. Sample(s) We examined German pre‐service and in‐service teachers of mathematics (N = 239) and economics (N = 321), including n = 96 (prospective) teachers who teach both subjects. Methods Action‐related skills in mathematics and economics were measured using video‐based performance assessments. Content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge were assessed using established paper–pencil tests. Correlation analyses, linear regressions, and a path model were applied. Results In mathematics and economics, we find a similar pattern of moderate correlations between action‐related skills, content knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge. Moreover, a significant correlation between action‐related skills in mathematics and economics can be explained almost entirely by underlying relations between content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in both domains. Conclusions Our findings suggest that action‐related skills empirically differ from domain‐specific knowledge and should be considered as domain‐specific constructs. This indicates that teacher education should not only focus on domain‐specific teacher knowledge, but may also provide learning opportunities for action‐related skills in each domain.

No abstract

The discrepancy between school and academic mathematics as well as the resulting problems for secondary mathematics teachers' content knowledge (CK) have been well known since Felix Klein pointed out the problem of so-called double discontinuity. However, even today, the field of mathematics education has no clear answer to the question as to what kind of profession-specific CK secondary mathematics teachers need and should be taught during the course of their teacher education. Hence, a model of professional CK for teaching secondary mathematics is required which takes into account the discrepancy between the academic mathematics that teachers learn at university and the school mathematics they teach in school. In order to characterize such a profession-specific CK, this theoretical paper traces and integrates different approaches to bridge this gap. Consequently, a construct called school-related content knowledge (SRCK) is introduced, which describes a profession-specific CK for teaching secondary mathematics concerning interrelations between academic and school mathematics. The conceptualization of this construct encompasses three facets that are illustrated by means of a corresponding operationalization. The distinction of SRCK from the construct of specialized content knowledge is discussed, as are emerging research questions.

Heinze (2020) Modelling early childhood teachers' mathematics-specific professional competence and its differential growth through professional development -an aspect of structural validity,