Programme for the improvement of the preservice mathematics education of secondary teachers at the teachers college in Jamaica

Abstract

This study sought to develop and begin to evaluate an improved programme for the preparation of secondary school mathematics teachers in the teacher training colleges of Jamaica. In light of developments in the secondary school curriculum and what was being taught at teachers' colleges, a set of criteria for the preparation of teachers of mathematics was proposed. These criteria were then examined for the implications for mathematics education in Jamaican teacher training colleges. On the basis of these criteria, guidelines were proposed. Using these guidelines, the existing preservice mathematics programmes were analysed and found to be inadequate. They lagged behind modern developments in mathematics and did not lay a sufficient foundation for the study of mathematics. A new programme was proposed, and the means of its implementation were discussed