Conceptualising a German mathematics education teacher professional development course based on a South African success model

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to indicate how a successfully implemented Teacher professional development (TPD) course from South Africa, can be adapted to conceptualize a similar course for students to become mathematics teachers in Germany. This TPD course was designed for teaching teachers to use mobile technology to enhance their classroom practice. Through several studies which included Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education it became obvious, that the teacher cannot be replaced by technology, but has to play a major role in the education process. As mobile phones are widely accessible in South Africa, concepts for teaching with mobile devices and teacher training have been developed and implemented in South Africa in a specific ICT for Development (ICT4D) initiative. Through teaching projects in South Africa and Germany a comparative study of the use of ICT in education to support mathematics education is conceptualized. This study is conducted to find synergies, identify transferable practices, identify best practice, and to establish research links and communities of practice between researchers and students in higher education institutions with relevant experience in both countries. In this paper a first draft for a teacher education professional development for teaching with ICTs in mathematics is presented, which is developed into a framework for the inclusion into teacher education at universities in South Africa and Germany.