TEACHER-TRAINEES’ BACKGROUND IN TEACHING AND LEARNING OF MATHEMATICS

Abstract

This study investigated teacher trainees’ preference for enrolling in the college of education programmes and their conceptual understanding of mathematics. The study employed the quantitative research approach where purposive and convenience sampling techniques were adopted to select 641 third-year teacher-trainees of the 2019/2020 batch from three colleges of education in the Volta Region. The instrument for data collection was developed and structured from reviewed literature and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The 21-survey items were administered to 842 participants at Akatsi, Peki, and St. Francis Colleges of Education. At the Junior High School and Senior High School levels, teacher-trainees below the age of 25 years performed better in mathematics than those above 25 years and only 20.3% and 24.6% studied Sciences at the SHS and the College of Education respectively. As low as 34.9% did not want to become teachers, nevertheless, 72.9% desired to teach mathematics after graduation. The study would enable the Colleges of Education to meet the goal of mathematics learning as stipulated in the National Curriculum Framework of 2005 (the ‘mathematization’ of the child’s thinking). On average, teacher trainees have relatively good knowledge and interest in the teaching and learning of mathematics. They should, therefore, be guided in introducing them to effective instructional strategies with special reference to constructivism.