Mathematicians’ views on school-related content knowledge in university teacher education: a starting point for curricular change

Abstract Research suggests knowledge of university mathematics does not suffice for prospective secondary mathematics teachers to develop knowledge about connections between school mathematics and university mathematics, namely school-related content knowledge. Nevertheless, such connections to school mathematics are usually not systematically fostered in universities’ mathematics courses for prospective secondary school teachers. In Germany, as in many other countries, these courses are typically designed and taught by mathematicians. It is however unclear to what extent mathematicians consider school-related content knowledge to be a relevant domain of teachers’ subject-specific knowledge that should be explicitly addressed in teacher education, and which changes to current curricula they consequently deem necessary. To address these questions, we conducted an online questionnaire study with 424 German mathematicians who taught university mathematics courses for prospective upper secondary school teachers. Using a mixed-methods approach, we found that most participants considered school-related content knowledge highly relevant to teachers’ later professional practice and that a majority believed school-related content knowledge requires targeted learning opportunities. Moreover, about half of the participants expressed a desire for changes in the current weighting of different domains of subject-specific knowledge in teacher education at their universities. We discuss our findings with a focus on practical implications for the systematic implementation of learning opportunities for school-related content knowledge in university mathematics courses for teacher education and associated curricular changes.