Professional noticing as a culturally sensitive construct: a cross-cultural study of Chilean and German mathematics teachers’ noticing competence

Abstract In the context of teacher professionalization, teachers and their professional competence play a decisive role in the quality of classroom activities and students’ learning gains. Within this discourse, teacher noticing has emerged as a set of central situation-specific skills that mediate the relationship between teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and motivation and their observable teaching performance. Due to its situational nature, teacher noticing is assumed to be highly context dependent. However, few empirical studies have systematically addressed cultural influences on teacher noticing as part of the professional context of teaching. This study addresses this research gap and investigates how far professional teacher noticing reflects culturally influenced dimensions of competence in two contrasting educational systems from Europe and South America. Data from 204 lower secondary mathematics teachers in Germany ( n = 118) and Chile ( n = 86) were analyzed using a standardized video-based instrument developed within the Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M) research program. Based on differential item functioning (DIF) analyses on a mathematics-pedagogical perspective, especially in interpreting individual students’ thinking and process-oriented mathematical competences. These complementary strength patterns reflect the different educational philosophies underlying the educational systems in which mathematics teachers learn and teach. The findings highlight teacher noticing as a culturally shaped dimension of professional competence and underscore the need for context-sensitive approaches to teacher professionalization and cross-cultural competence research.