Mathematics teacher specialization in elementary schools

Joumana Tawil; Brandon Dickson; Donna Kotsopoulos

doi:10.29333/iejme/14481

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Joumana Tawil ¹ , Brandon Dickson ² ^* , Donna Kotsopoulos ²

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¹ Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board, Windsor, ON, CANADA² Faculty of Education, Western University, London, ON, CANADA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

This study explores elementary teacher and administrator perspectives related to mathematics specialty teachers in elementary schools, in a jurisdiction, where such roles were known by researchers to not be used. Mathematics specialty teachers are those teachers that have specialized training in both mathematics content and pedagogy. Online surveys were administered and completed by teachers and administrators in one school district in Ontario, Canada. The surveys included open- and closed-ended questions. The results of both the teacher and the administrator survey show that most participants were in favor of a mathematics teacher specialization model in elementary schools. Our findings contribute to the ongoing debate on the need for mathematics specialist teachers. While our findings are small and preliminary in nature, they represent a great interest amongst teachers and administrators on this school board in implementing such a model. These findings will have implications for policy makers both in the province of Ontario, but also in other regions looking to understand international models of mathematics education.

Keywords

mathematics specialty teacher
teacher specialization
mathematics education
professional development

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

INT ELECT J MATH ED, 2024, Volume 19, Issue 2, Article No: em0777

https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/14481

Publication date: 18 Apr 2024

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Article Downloads: 115

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How to cite this article

APA

Tawil, J., Dickson, B., & Kotsopoulos, D. (2024). Mathematics teacher specialization in elementary schools. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 19(2), em0777. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/14481

Vancouver

Tawil J, Dickson B, Kotsopoulos D. Mathematics teacher specialization in elementary schools. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2024;19(2):em0777. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/14481

AMA

Tawil J, Dickson B, Kotsopoulos D. Mathematics teacher specialization in elementary schools. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2024;19(2), em0777. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/14481

Chicago

Tawil, Joumana, Brandon Dickson, and Donna Kotsopoulos. "Mathematics teacher specialization in elementary schools". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education 2024 19 no. 2 (2024): em0777. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/14481

Harvard

Tawil, J., Dickson, B., and Kotsopoulos, D. (2024). Mathematics teacher specialization in elementary schools. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 19(2), em0777. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/14481

MLA

Tawil, Joumana et al. "Mathematics teacher specialization in elementary schools". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, vol. 19, no. 2, 2024, em0777. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/14481