PREPARATION OF EFFECTIVE TEACHERS OF MATHEMATICS FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS

In Pakistan, Mathematics’ teachers use different techniques and strategies for effective teaching of mathematics. Teacher’s dynamic participation and active role in the mathematics’ classroom can make it more effective and interesting. Effective teaching of mathematics can be done only when teacher has subject matter knowledge and know the ways to transfer knowledge. It is a common observation that students feel mathematics a dry subject as teachers remain failed in making mathematics an interesting subject. It is also argued that mathematics courses in teacher training program do not prepare student-teachers for conceptual teaching and these student-teachers join their job with poor content knowledge and pedagogical skills, there teaching depend on their academic qualification rather than professional qualification. National Educational Policy (2009), claims that in-service teachers training in mathematics shall be provided, with due attention to developing conceptual understanding, procedural knowledge, problem solving and practical reasoning skills. The objective of the study was to explore the opinion of the teachers about the content of the mathematics courses in teacher training programs. The research question was: what is the impact of job category (Primary, Middle, and Secondary) and gender on total score of teachers’ satisfaction about content of mathematics course in teacher training programs? The sample for the study was the mathematics’ teachers who have mathematics background and have taken mathematics as a subject in teacher training program. A questionnaire was developed on five point Likert scale for knowing the opinion of the teachers. ANOVA was used for finding the impact of job category and gender on teachers’ satisfaction about content of mathematics course in teacher training program.