Teaching Proficiency and Preparedness of Pre-service Secondary Mathematics Teachers: its Implications to Actual Practice

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3.3. Instrumentation and Statistical Tools

This study utilized a validated student teacher observation form across all teacher education programs of the college. The survey questionnaire was developed by the faculty of the college to measure pre-service teachers’ mastery of lesson planning, subject matter competence, classroom management, instructional strategies and motivation, communication skills, questioning skills and professionalism. At the end of the semester, cooperating teachers gave report cards of their student teachers. In the report card, cooperating teachers were required to write verbal comments and suggestions for the improvement of the student teacher and to provide student teaching coordinator additional basis for final grade computation of the student teacher.

The level of competence of the pre-service mathematics teachers in the different aspects would be measured using mean and standard deviation. The mean of the different aspects would be interpreted using the table below:

Table 2. Mean Intervals and Description

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The demographic profile of the respondents would be computed using frequency count and percentage.

4. Results and Discussion

Table 3. Mean Level of Subject Matter Knowledge (SMK)

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Table 3 above displays the mean level of subject matter knowledge (SMK) of the pre-service mathematics teachers as perceived by the cooperating teachers. SMK was measured in terms of the pre-service mathematics teachers’ demonstration of mastery of the subject matter content, updated knowledge and awareness on the current trends and issues of the subject, ability to integrate the subject to practical circumstances and learning intents of students and shares information on the state-of-the-art theory and practice of the mathematics discipline. Result showed that they were proficient as indicated by the overall mean of 27.29 out of 30 points. This implies that the mathematics content they learned during their academic years in the university was adequate and sufficient. This could be attributed to their exposure to the number of mathematics courses they were able to take up and the exposure and trainings of the mathematics teachers handling these specialization subjects. Three of the report cards of the pre-service mathematics teachers showing the rating of the cooperating teachers were shown below:

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Figure 1. Pre-Service Mathematics Teacher 1 Sample Report Card

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Figure 2. Pre-Service Mathematics Teacher 2 Sample Report Card

Table 4. Mean Level of Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers’ Lesson Planning Competence

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The table above revealed that in terms of lesson planning competence, the pre-service teachers showed a good performance as indicated by the overall mean of 3.08. In all indicators, the respondents also showed a good performance with the respondents’ ability to use varied examples received the highest mean and planning a variety of teaching strategies as the lowest. This implies that student-teachers are quite good in presenting illustrative examples which would capture the concept in the lesson. Not far from the highest mean, these respondents’ were able to present the objectives clearly and assessment of learning was evident in the prepared lesson plan. However, these respondents need to be exposed to different teaching strategies so they can choose a variety of teaching methods and apply in their classes not relying much on lecture-discussion method. Moreover, they need to be trained on how important is technology in their mathematics classes. Samples of verbatim comments of the selected ten (10) cooperating teachers on the pre-service mathematics teachers’ lesson planning competence are shown below:

CT 1: “When making objectives, always consider the affective domain.”

CT 2: “Develop timeliness in submitting the lesson plan.”

CT 3: “The lesson plan is well written and contains all essential elements (objectives, materials, procedures and assignments.”

CT 4: “He needs to improve his handwriting.”

CT 5: “Minimize the time you spend talking as a teacher, keep the focus on the learner.”

CT 6: “Well organized.”

CT 7: “Attainable and measurable”

CT 8: “He has the knowledge in designing lessons with congruent objectives, learning activities and instructional materials. He uses relevant examples.”

CT 9: “He makes sure that his students’ are motivated.”

CT 10: “Improve your penmanship”

The pre-service mathematics teachers were knowledgeable in preparing organized, attainable and measurable lesson objectives of a lesson plan, however, they need to put more emphasis on designing student centered activities which promotes engagement, collaboration, and communication and mathematical tasks which helps develop students’ critical thinking and problem solving skills Timeliness and consideration of the affective domain in the lesson plan should also be given attention.

Table 5. Mean Level of Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers’ Classroom Management Competence

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In all indicators of classroom management competence of pre-service mathematics teachers, they received a good rating from the cooperating teachers. They showed friendly and positive classroom atmosphere which is really important for greater learning opportunities. Monitoring students behavior is another which the teacher need to consider, students’ who misbehave in the class could be a distraction for other students’ who are very eager to learn and detrimental to the learning competence of the student himself. Teachers who strive for excellence will incorporate a vast array of behavior management approaches in order that all children are engaged in a meaningful learning environment. Effective teachers creating and maintaining an orderly, productive classroom environment has long been viewed as one of the essential elements in teaching competence (LaCaze, McCormick & Meyer, 2012). Below were some of the verbal comments of the cooperating teachers in terms of classroom management practices of the pre-service mathematics teachers assigned to them:

CT 11: “Classroom management is difficult especially if you are dealing with Grade 7 students. Even though, she is small but she handled it with grace.”

CT 12: “She maintains order and discipline inside the class.”

CT 13: “Needs to be strict during quizzes and discipline the class during discussion.”

CT 14: “He always monitors the students’ behavior. He is able to create a friendly environment”.

CT 15: “She is concerned for a safe and conducive learning environment”.

CT 16: “We can’t avoid students’ who are hard headed but try to be more patient with them.”

CT 17: “Has variety of strategies in managing the class.”

CT 18: “Learn more on how to manage the classroom especially with large size of the class.”

CT 19: “Flexible and maintains composure even at times of difficult situation”

The above verbal comments showed that the pre-service mathematics teachers tried to maintain order and discipline in the class applying different strategies however the size of the class sometimes becomes difficult to handle. Further probing showed that they need to improve their classroom management skills that they should not be intimidated by the class behavior and they need to design activities which promotes active learning minimizing students’ inappropriate behaviors during class discussion. It is also recommended that they should provide effective conventional and non-conventional management styles by considering students’ different backgrounds to produce a safe, caring and orderly classroom environment capable of honing students’ mathematical skills at a maximum rate. As a matter of fact, it is acknowledged that for productive learning environments to exist, classroom management must be intertwined with effective instruction that is engaging and meaningful ^[6].

The overall mean level of the pre-service mathematics teachers’ instructional strategies and motivation competence is 3.10. This indicates that the pre-service mathematics teachers demonstrated a good performance in using varied effective instructional strategies which would be appropriate for the learner’s need. Additionally, these respondents were very clear in their lesson objectives in the class as reflected in their lesson plan however, they sometimes failed to make a summary of the activity and did not all the time provide students with interesting and meaningful assignments. Assignments are reinforcement methods and could boost learning retention among students. Some CT’s noted that these pre-service mathematics teachers were very much concern on how the topics should be met within the timeframe as reflected in their syllabus but did not thoroughly examine if concepts were captured very well by the students. In effect, they tend to talk and discuss very fast and even forgot to reteach concepts which were not perfectly absorbed and applied by the students. In fact one CT commented:

“There are times when students do not understand immediately your explanation, try your best to find another way of explaining it so that your students can understand it clearly”.

Table 6. Mean Level of Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers’ Instructional Strategies and Motivation Competence

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Table 7. Mean Level of Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers’ Communication Skills Competence

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Table 7 showed the report of status pre-service mathematics teachers’ level of communication skills. Result revealed that they only performed good as indicated by the mean of 3.14. They had established good and acceptable voice expression and pitch projection but were not really excellent of the language. Moreover, they always find time to respond to students verbal and non-verbal messages and quite good in expressing their thoughts using the appropriate vocabulary. With this result, they need to be trained on how to improve their language skills most especially that they will be teaching mathematics. They need to be both experts on the language of teaching and more so the language of mathematics. Language problem is one of the major factors contributing towards the poor performance of many students in mathematics ^[3]. Communicating mathematics to students in a classroom is mediated by language. Therefore, language has a crucial role to play in communicating and developing mathematics education ^[10] and the National Council of teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) stressed the importance of role of language in mathematics teaching and learning. In the study, communication has been emphasized as an essential part of Mathematics and Mathematics education ^[9]. Some of the CT’s comments are displayed below:

CT 21: “He has the ability to connect and communicate with his students. A little improvement is needed.”

CT 22: “He found ways to communicate students to their level of understanding.”

CT 23: “Smooth flow of well-organized logical ideas in every discussion.”

CT 24: “She has the ability to convey ideas and concerns at students’ level.”

CT 25: “Results showed that the students’ comprehended the lessons taught. He speaks well with modulated voice.”

CT 26: “Communication skills can be develop through time, just keep on practicing….”

Table 8. Mean Level of Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers’ Questioning Skills Competence

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Questioning techniques used by mathematics teachers has been proven as an effective tool to develop students’ interest, critical thinking skills, motivate students to become actively involved in lessons, evaluate students’ preparation and check on homework or seatwork completion, review and summarize previous lessons, nurture insights by exposing new relationships, assess achievement of instructional goals and objectives and stimulate students to pursue knowledge on their own ^[4]. The result above showed that the pre-service mathematics teachers manage to perform quite good in the different indicators. They knew how to encourage students’ to ask questions but not really that very good in restructuring questions whenever needed to meet the learning demand of the students. It is essential that the teacher understand the importance of “good question-asking skills” in mathematics lessons. The teachers need to create a variety of situations in which their own questions relate to the proposed questions, as well as recognizing situations that call for fostering the skill of question-asking and addressing them immediately and in the long run. To achieve this, it is necessary to plan the teaching by choosing question items that suit the student population, the teaching goals, the different needs and the teacher's own teaching style ^[1].

Table 9. Mean Level of Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers’ Professionalism Competence

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