Exploring challenges in preparing prospective teachers for teaching 4C skills in mathematics classroom: A school-university partnership perspectives

Abstract

Higher education institutions are responsible for delivering university-level mathematical knowledge to prospective mathematics teachers in a manner relevant to their future professional practice for teaching a core competency of 4C skills. The ability to teach these skills in the mathematics classroom is demanded by educational reform in the 21^st century. However, creating learning experiences that allow them to acquire 4C skills is becoming increasingly difficult. Thus, the study was interested in discovering challenges faced by teacher education institutions in equipping prospective mathematics teachers with 4C skills-based instruction by considering similar challenges experienced by school teachers in the classroom. The study used semi-structured interviews to gather data from 10 teacher educators seeking university perspectives and 10 in-service teachers for school perspectives. A constant comparative analysis of gathered data yielded five themes, discovering critical challenges experienced by participants in integrating 4C skills. The study highlights that prospective mathematics teachers did not receive proper training in teaching 4C skills because educators had limited knowledge, facilities and support. This study suggests universities employ a dynamic new learning system to equip incoming mathematics teacher graduates with the essential resources such as a School-University Partnership mediated Lesson Study (SUPER-LS) program as an approach to overcome the challenges. This novel TPD program supports the professional development of pre-service teachers at university and in-service teachers at school in two ways, including emphasising PD activities on mathematics transposition promoting student learning 4C skills and facilitating them through the collaborative learning communities of lesson study groups.

Keywords:

• Mathematical knowledge for teaching; 4C Skills
• prospective mathematics teacher
• teacher education institutes
• school-university partnership mediated by lesson study

Public Interest Statement

School teachers in the 21st century are required to integrate core competencies such as critical thinking and problem-solving, creativity, communication, and collaboration, called 4C skills, in daily mathematics classrooms. However, they must be provided with comprehensive and sufficient training in 4C skills-based instruction before and after their service. Teacher education institutions have faced criticism for their perceived shortcomings in adequately preparing prospective teachers with the essential knowledge and abilities pertinent to their profession, particularly concerning the instruction of 4C skills, considered essential globally. As integrating 4C skills in mathematics instruction is a complex task, our research was intriguing in discovering the challenges teacher education institutions face in helping prospective mathematics teachers, who are future teachers, understand 21st-century teaching and learning, 4C skills, and how to teach them daily. Recognizing school teachers’ challenges in facilitating the development of 4C skills among students is also crucial as input to the university in providing relevant learning experiences for future teachers. Prospective mathematics teachers did not get appropriate training on 4C skills instruction due to barriers, including lack of ability and motivation, lack of their educators’ competency and belief, lack of supporting program and facility, and poor regulation. Lesson study in the school-university partnership (SUPER) platform could help both groups address these challenges.

1. Introduction

As a result of an emergent global consensus on the need to incorporate 21^st-century capabilities into education curricula, the enhancement of critical thinking and problem-solving, creativity, communication, and collaboration (4C) skills among students has become the center of current reform in mathematics education. The 4C skills are essential for modern life, particularly for entering the workforce and traversing a complex world (The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2018a). Students must be able to communicate and collaborate to critically and creatively solve problems with people from around the globe (Drake & Reid, 2018). Promoting 4C skills in daily teaching practice is desired due to their long-term benefits (Abu Bakar & Ismail, 2020; Beswick & Fraser, 2019; Mıhladız Turhan & Açık Demirci, 2021). Consequently, skills have always been a part of the curriculum and daily instruction. However, integrating 4C skills in the mathematics classroom can be a complex process that requires careful planning, training, and assessment.

To ensure its implementation, teaching 21st-century skills requires a holistic approach considering content, pedagogy, assessment, teacher training, budget, and systemic regulation. Many educators are still determining the definition, process, and assessment used for teaching 21^st-century skills and are overwhelmed by the scope and pace of educational reform (Drake & Reid, 2018). According to the OECD (2018b), most educational systems need help to resolve these issues, and there has yet to be a national consensus regarding effective integration, assessment and quality assurance. Regarding this, the organization provides recommendations for addressing this issue, including teachers having the ability and opportunity to collaborate on creating learning environments, meeting the learning needs of specific student groups, developing their professional skills, and teaching in teams to support students developing global capacities. Each requires extensive and rigorous teacher preparation.

Indonesia is a developing country that calls for swift responses to cope with the demands of the 21st century. It is imperative as poor mathematics performance among Indonesian students is well documented and has been an area of concern for the past decade (Markus, 2019; Tanudjaya & Doorman, 2020; Tanujaya et al., 2021). It can be seen from the current PISA tests, which exhibit Indonesian students’ achievement was consistently low and stagnant, with an average score of 375, 386, and 375 in the 2012, 2015, and 2018 tests, respectively. Moreover, the OECD reported that only 1% of Indonesian students could answer the question on levels five and six, which assess part of 4C skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving. In comparison, student performance at level 2, which evaluates lower-order thinking, was substantially higher at 28% (Markus, 2019). A local study by Tanudjaya and Doorman (2020) demonstrates that poor performance has persisted. The study also found that Indonesian students can construct mathematical models but need help with contextual application and creative thinking. This is supported by Tanujaya et al. (2021), who reported that most Indonesian students need to be more proficient at mathematical reasoning and more capable of accurately answering HOTS-measuring mathematical problems. This condition worsens when COVID-19 spreads, causing learning loss during restricted school (Hanushek & Woessmann, 2020; Malik, 2018). It contributes to a decreased mathematics proficiency, and many students encounter learning problems early on in their school career, which then influence their achievement the following year after school (Vásquez et al., 2022). Teachers’ quality is one major component to contributes to the issue.

In light of this educational issue, it is crucial to tie together all aspects of the effective teacher education model for the 21st century to present teacher training at an international level. This action is needed to ensure that teachers become individuals aware of all the problems in their surroundings, create solutions, and take a stand (Mıhladız Turhan & Açık Demirci, 2021). However, prospective teachers need to be adequately prepared for the current demand of teaching and learning settings, which emphasize 4C skills (Chen & Zhang, 2019; Lai et al., 2015). According to Fitriati and Prayudi (2021), implementing teaching processes in Indonesian higher education is different than intended to cultivate 21^st-century skills in prospective mathematics teachers. The instructor’s learning experiences need to meet the requirements of the 21^st-century. Most teacher educators must become more familiar with 21^st-century skills, resulting in inadequate 21^st-century training for student teachers during their initial education program (Erduran & Ince, 2018). Chikiwa et al. (2019) also discovered that teacher educators face challenges acquiring the requisite content and pedagogical knowledge for teaching 4C skills in mathematics education programs. In addition, the pedagogical competence of faculty members in teaching 4C skills was inadequately practised to deserve the policy direction (Molla et al., 2023). As a result, prospective teachers performed at a low or moderate level (Astuti et al., 2019). It indicates that the initial teacher education program is inconsistent, where the disconnection between theory and practice is immersed (Lai et al., 2015). In other words, Indonesian universities are producing unprepared mathematics teachers to meet the demands of the 21st century.

Revina (2022) conducted a recent study that highlighted the significant issue regarding the substandard quality of graduates from teacher institutions in Indonesia. The findings indicated that teacher colleges could not create adequately trained instructors who could effectively teach numeracy skills due to many variables, such as the calibre of students admitted into the program, the curriculum of teacher education, and the system for certifying pre-service teachers. Regarding the teacher curriculum, she highlighted that the instructional activities mostly centre around utilizing administrative tools under guidelines and syllabi, with less emphasis on engaging in reflective practices to assess the effectiveness of their teaching within the classroom setting. Furthermore, the implementation of clinical supervision in the internships of teacher candidates is needed to meet the anticipated standards. The teaching exercise necessitated mentoring, supervision, and constructive feedback. According to the report, despite the government’s implementation of a certification program for pre-service teachers as a primary initiative to enhance teacher quality, the program still needs to improve teacher quality substantially. If these teacher graduates become teachers, they may perpetuate ineffective teaching practices, resulting in a cyclical pattern of poor performance (Chikiwa et al., 2019). This issue in initial education programs has emerged as a significant determinant of the substandard quality of teachers in Indonesia (Irnidayanti & Fadhilah, 2023).

Poor performance of Indonesian teachers as an impact of low quality of teacher graduates has been documented by several studies (Arif et al., 2022; Kawuryan et al., 2021; Sunardi & Doringin, 2020). For example, Arif et al. (2022), who conducted a study encompassing instructors from 1,360 elementary and secondary schools, both public and private, emphasized that a significant proportion, specifically 40%, of educators in Jakarta had challenges in effectively addressing the needs and accommodating the learning development of students with varied characteristics. Additionally, the data indicates that 17% of educators encountered challenges in evaluating student proficiency, while 22% faced difficulties determining the most suitable learning approach for specific content. Many educators, particularly those working in underperforming schools, encountered challenges in maintaining a peaceful classroom environment and ensuring compliance with instructional directives among their students. Public school instructors primarily focused on utilizing learning material and implementing diverse advanced teaching tactics within the classroom context. In contrast, educators affiliated with high-achieving private educational institutions expressed challenges in fostering students’ capacity for profound critical thinking and engaging in meaningful discourse. Moreover, the inability of teachers to provide learning experiences to facilitate students learning of 4C skills was also reported by Sunardi and Doringin (2020), who conducted several interviews and observations of primary and secondary teachers involved in teacher professional programs. The study highlighted that teachers do not provide learning environments and opportunities for students to communicate, produce creative ideas, collaborate, and solve problems critically. The facts suggest that Indonesian teacher education institutes that are teacher producers encounter difficulties in adequately equipping prospective teachers with the necessary abilities required for effective instruction in contemporary classrooms of the 21st century.

Koponen et al. (2017) suggest that teacher education institutions should adequately equip prospective teachers with mathematical and pedagogical knowledge during their initial education. They need to rethink strategies to nurture future teachers and equip them with adequate knowledge for teaching because the contents of mathematics teacher education are related to future teachers’ knowledge, affecting student achievement (Chen & Zhang, 2019). Retaining excellent teachers, supporting and encouraging their capacity, and investing in them is critical (Malik, 2018). Hence, improving the quality of teaching has become a critical component of raising the educational standard in Indonesia. The quality of teaching and learning is inextricably linked to classroom activities that are highly dependent on their professionals and directly impact their students’ learning (Koponen et al., 2017; Vásquez et al., 2022). It indicates that instructor abilities must be strengthened, particularly in teaching 4C skills. A call for teacher education programs is also placed to ensure that their graduates are prepared to teach effectively in the classroom of the 21st century (Szabo et al., 2020). Future teachers should develop competencies in mathematics education at university, including methods, learning models, and strategies for developing 4C skills in students through lesson study to become qualified teachers. Fulfilling the demand is critical in light of Beswick and Fraser (2019:955), who state that “many countries are experiencing shortages of adequately qualified teachers of mathematics and some science disciplines”. Therefore, teacher training programs should equip prospective teachers with critical ideas, skills, and the capacity to reflect, evaluate and learn from their teaching so that it continually improves (Malik, 2018). Studies such as Fitriati et al. (2023) and Lim et al. (2018) recommend providing future mathematics teachers with authentic experience working in the classroom through frequent school visits to get exposure to diverse educational environments, observe effective teaching practice, understand student diversity, and acquire the skills necessary to conduct innovative instruction for teaching 4C skills. Combining classroom experiences, mentorships, and academic study will give future educators a well-rounded foundation. However, in reality, such learning experiences were limited among prospective teachers. Allmendinger et al. (2023) found that prospective teachers frequently criticize their university studies in mathematics as lacking practical relevance to their future professional work.

Thus, to better equip mathematics teachers with knowledge relevant to their profession, especially for teaching 4C skills, it is important to discover the obstacles encountered by teacher education institutions in facilitating the situation for prospective mathematics teachers, who are teachers of the future, in terms of forming a reasonable understanding of 21^st-century teaching and learning, the extent to which they possess 4C skills and the ability to teach these skills in daily basis. It is also essential to recognize the school teachers’ problems in promoting 4C skills among students. The research focuses on the mathematics teaching and learning process of 4C skills comprising critical thinking and problem solving, creativity, collaboration, and communication. Teacher education institutions can use the information to develop impactful teacher professional programs aligning with the worldwide demand for highly competent educators. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine the significant obstacles teacher education institutes face in equipping mathematics teachers with the necessary knowledge to teach 4C skills. Additionally, this paper will propose suitable strategies to overcome these issues. In pursuit of this objective, inquiries were made to ascertain the responses to the subsequent research inquiries: a) What challenges do teacher educators encounter in the process of equipping mathematics teachers with the necessary skills to effectively teach 4C skills? b) Do school teachers face comparable difficulties when instructing their students in 4C skills? c) what potential solutions might be proposed to address these difficulties? This study makes a valuable contribution to the current knowledge base by identifying constraints that policymakers in Indonesia need to address in order to promote the integration of 4C practices in mathematics instruction at both the school and university levels (Bray et al., 2018).

2. Challenges in integrating 4c skills in mathematics classroom

Integrating 4C skills into daily mathematics classrooms is a global challenge affecting developed and developing countries (Abu Bakar & Ismail, 2020; Bray, 2016; Malik, 2018; OECD, 2018b; Szabo et al., 2020). Oldham and Price (2020) identified and classified the challenge into four aspects. These include 1) political challenge, which relates to policy makers’ consideration to adopt the skills or not and the availability of direction or a guide and supporting system to control the results; 2) methodological challenge, which relates to the availability of the theory and its assumptions to support the implementation of the skills; 3) curricular challenge, which related to the design of 21^st-century implementation synchronize with the curricula of learners; and 4) pedagogical challenge, which corresponds to teaching approaches could be used to teach the skills and its applicability to be adapted in different cultures. Furthermore, when implementing 4C skills, the definition and strategy for skill enhancement also become an issue. In addition, Malik (2018) summarized five main challenges education policymakers face today as 1) improving the quality of teaching or developing teaching as a knowledge-based profession where more able graduates must be attracted to teacher training courses; 2) raising levels of achievement and reducing socio-economic differences among students; 3) designing the school curriculum to equip students for a significantly changed and changing world; 4) arranging flexible work schedules for teachers; and 5) identify low achieving students’ learning trajectories to mitigate early their risks and problems. Kai et al. (2021) suggested that policymakers incorporating 21st-century skills into their curricula must support changes with a well-articulated execution plan. It indicates that a comprehensive, well-researched strategy to guide educators, school administrators, and policymakers through the complex process of instituting 21st-century skill education is even more necessary.

Among other significant challenges for today’s mathematics also reported by previous studies including teachers face difficulties teaching the 4C skills, which often involve solving decontextualized problems, limited teaching resources, time constraints, the difficulty in implementing a project or problem based, inquiry-based activity in a series of 40-minute lessons, and issues with the development of well-functioning teams (Abu Bakar & Ismail, 2020; Bray, 2016; Szabo et al., 2020; Vásquez et al., 2022). In addition, these studies revealed that teachers encounter difficulties in engaging students in mathematics, demonstrating its relevance in the real world, and acquiring the skills necessary to determine which mathematics contents are sustainable (Avcu, 2019; Vásquez et al., 2022). Educators must possess substantial mathematical knowledge to effectively teach students the knowledge expected by contemporary society since teacher quality is crucial in determining student achievement (Malik, 2018). Therefore, educational policymakers realized that ensuring all students have access to highly competent teachers depends on the teachers’ quality.

The teacher education program has been deemed pertinent and responsive to the requirements of mathematics education in the 21st century. In order to provide quality education from the foundation level (primary and secondary) to the tertiary level, they have begun to modernize their teacher training practice (Allmendinger et al., 2023; Khahro & Javed, 2022; Malik, 2018; Revina, 2022). However, its implementation raises numerous concerns that the government and teacher education institutions must address promptly (Allmendinger et al., 2023; Revina, 2022). Similarly, the voice of teacher educators can provide insight into what is occurring in the field. The school curriculum requires mathematics teachers to develop students’ 4C skills. Teacher education institutions have done their best to include this requirement in the mathematics teacher education curriculum by providing pre-service teachers with learning experiences that help them develop skills for teaching 4C skills. Considering that the university still needs to revise its policies and resolve the concerns raised by various stakeholder groups. Preparing pre-service teachers with knowledge for teaching 4C skills in mathematics classrooms is still a work in progress; therefore, studying their challenges would greatly assist the education sector in developing revised policies and guidelines and tailoring programs to address the issues of contemporary mathematics education directly.

3. Research methodology

3.1. Research approach and designs

This study employed a qualitative approach to investigate challenges faced by teacher education institutions and schools when preparing students with 4C skills and knowledge. The research design is a single case study with multiple embedded units of two education institutions, represented by university teacher educators and school teachers. Figure 1 illustrates the research design used in this study.

Figure 1. Single case study with embedded unit model.

A case study involves an in-depth understanding of a case or natural world phenomenon limited to a person, place, or event to provide an analysis of the context and processes that illuminate the theoretical issues (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Yin, 2014). This particular design is highly suitable as it facilitates the acquisition of a comprehensive view regarding the essence and overall scope of the difficulties educators encounter in adequately equipping aspiring teachers with the necessary abilities for teaching the 4C skills.

3.2. Participants and sampling technique

The present investigation utilized purposive sampling, a non-probability sampling technique sometimes referred to as judgmental, selective, or subjective sampling. This approach involves researchers’ deliberate selection of participants based on their informed judgment (Wannenburg & Curlewis, 2023). This methodology facilitates the acquisition of a comprehensive understanding of the case being investigated by the researchers. Following this sampling technique, ten teacher educators who provide instruction at the university level were selected to represent the perspective of higher education. Additionally, ten in-service teachers currently employed in schools were chosen to represent the perspective of secondary education. These individuals were invited to partake in an interview as part of the research process. Hence, a cohort of twenty individuals, four males, and sixteen females, participated in the research. The following set of inclusion criteria determined the process of participant selection: 1) possessing a minimum of five years of teaching experience in the field of mathematics; 2) providing voluntary consent to engage in the research; and 3) being affiliated with educational institutions in the Aceh region. The inclusion of representation was deemed essential to investigate the potential for exploring different settings and contexts, aiming to capture the true core of the participants’ experiences. Following the interrogation of the twenty individuals, additional interviews were deemed unnecessary as data saturation had been achieved, and no novel insights were obtained. Table 1 presents a comprehensive overview and detailed description of the demographic characteristics of the participants.

Table 1. Participants’ demographic characteristics

Group of Teacher Educators				Group of In-service Teachers
Pseudonym	Age Group	Year of Teaching	Current Status	Pseudonym	Age Group	Year of Teaching	Current Status
TE01	31–35	7 Years	Lecturer	ST01	55–60	25 Years	Teacher
TE02	31–35	9 Years	Lecturer	ST02	35–40	15 Years	Teacher
TE03	31–35	7 Years	Lecturer	ST03	35–40	16 Years	Teacher
TE04	31–35	8 Years	Head of the Mathematics Education Department	ST04	41–45	16 Years	Teacher
TE05	36–40	7 Years	Head of the Mathematics Education Department	ST05	61–65	23 Years	Teacher
TE06	36–40	7 Years	Head of the Mathematics Education Department	ST06	35–40	14 Years	Teacher
TE07	31–35	9 Years	Lecturer	ST07	51–55	26 Years	Teacher
TE08	51–55	24 Years	Head of the Mathematics Education Department	ST08	55–60	36 Years	Teacher
TE09	51–55	24 Years	Lecturer	ST09	45–50	15 Years	Teacher
TE10	35–40	8 Years	Lecturer	ST10	41–45	19 Years	Teacher

3.3. Data collection instruments

In a qualitative study, interviews, observation, documents and artefacts are the main data collection methods (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). This study used semi-structured interviews and documents. These data collection instruments were used to get detailed information about the challenges faced by educators both at the university and school levels. The form of semi-structured interview contained open-ended questions that cast light on the objective of comprehending and describing the essence of university and school instruction. In addition, because there may have been information not captured during the online interview, participants were informed of member checking once the interview transcripts were completed.

3.4. Ethical issues

Researchers bear the responsibility and moral duty to uphold ethical standards in their professional conduct and matters of morality while ensuring the well-being and protection of research participants. In order to ensure the achievement of the study’s objectives, it is imperative to adhere to various ethical norms. Consequently, the researchers requested consent from the Research Ethics Committee before performing the interview. Given the qualitative nature of the research, participants were required to provide informed consent before participating in the study, as an interview was deemed necessary for data collection purposes. Participants were provided with information regarding the nature of their involvement, the objectives of the study, the anticipated duration of their commitment, the assurance of secrecy to their identity, the significance of their contribution to the existing body of knowledge, and their entitlement to withdraw from the study at any point. The participants’ consent agreements, which were duly signed, affirmed their willingness to furnish the requisite data for the research. The participants’ identities were known exclusively to the researcher, and they did not have access to the data. The study involved the identification of participants through the use of coded ID, and subsequent audio recordings were discarded once they had confirmed the validity of the provided fundamental structure according to a prearranged schedule that was agreed upon by all parties involved.

3.5. Trustworthiness

In order to ascertain the overall credibility of this study, the four trustworthiness criteria: credibility, dependability, transferability, and confirmability (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) were measured. For constant comparison analysis, data triangulation was employed to produce a comprehensive view of the phenomenon. Member checks and peer evaluation were also employed to further support the credibility of the data. Through these techniques, participants were asked to verify the accuracy of the transcript and the emerging themes. The researcher discussed the analysis process and findings with peers and experts to get feedback and insight into present problems and correct interpretation (Krefting, 1991). In addition, the evaluation of transferability was conducted by employing various methodologies, including using a nominated sample, comparing the sample to demographic data, and providing a detailed and comprehensive description of the findings. A comprehensive and in-depth account of the study findings, encompassing substantiating quotes directly obtained from participants and supplementary materials, all of which serve to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to different contexts (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).

3.6. Data analysis

The collected data for this exploratory case study is purely qualitative and originated from the interview transcripts and curriculum documents. The constant comparison analysis is used to explore data gathered to answer the proposed research questions. This iterative and inductive data reduction technique is employed to compare different data pieces against each other to determine whether the data are conceptually the same or different (Corbin & Strauss, 2015). To facilitate this process, the present study utilizes the analysis technique outlined by Memon et al. (2017), which has four distinct phases. Before commencing the analysis, the interview data underwent transcription, producing interview transcripts that were prepared for analysis. The initial phase involves the development of inductive category coding, wherein the researchers generated provisional categories by employing criteria such as visual and tactile similarities, forming an initial list of codes. After this procedure, refining categories was undertaken by establishing rules of inclusion, which led to generating a list of categories based on the propositional statement. The third phase involves the examination of relationships between categories, wherein the researchers amalgamated several categories into a limited number of overarching ones. This process resulted in the formation of two final sets of categories, namely stand-alone propositions and outcome propositions. In the last stage, Stage 4, data integration was performed by searching for significance within the data generating a synthesis. The process of coding and theming was facilitated with the utilization of NVivo 20 software. A total of five themes were derived from the analysis of the instances involving teacher educators and school teachers. Both examples exhibit five common themes, with just one theme differing between them. Table 2 presents an overview of the similarities and distinctions among the themes derived from the embedded case unit.

Table 2. Comparison of themes generated by teacher educators’ case and school teachers’ case

Teacher Educators’ Case	School Teachers’ Case
Lack of prospective mathematics teachers’ ability and motivation for learning	Lack of students’ ability and disposition
Pedagogical challenge	Practical challenge,
Lack of teacher educators’ ability and conceptual understanding of 4C skills	Lack of teacher competency and motivation
Lack of supporting programs and facilities	Lack of support for TPD programs and facilities
Political challenge.	Political challenge

4. The Findings and Discussion

As shown in Table 2 and Figure 2, the researchers uncovered five themes from the in-depth interview or discussion. The themes were determined based on categories derived from codes representing teacher educators’ and school teachers’ excerpts. The subsequent section discusses each topic.

Figure 2. Typology of challenges.

4.1. Learner-related challenge

Our analysis found that students’ inability and lack of motivation to learn mathematics was one of the most significant obstacles teacher institutions faced in preparing pre-service teachers to teach 4C skills. In teacher educators’ cases, eight participants reported needing help teaching mathematics courses with 4C skills due to their students’ lack of aptitude and motivation, particularly those from private universities. They mentioned that to enable teaching 4C skills-based mathematics lessons, pre-service teachers need to master 4C skills. In reality, however, their understanding of fundamental mathematical concepts remains limited. They argued that students cannot think critically and creatively in solving mathematics problems if they do not master basic concepts or principles of mathematics. For example, one of the participants [TE02] said that “they were from remote areas who were unable to enter a public university in the capital city, their ability below average even though one or two of them were above the average. So far, I have identified their lack of understanding of basic mathematics as a factor”. Another participant [TE03] added that “students with low cognitive ability were easy to surrender when solving difficult mathematical tasks which ask them to think critically because they were unhabituated to solve that kind of problem in school”. This statement was also echoed by another participant [TE08] stated that “there might be a correlation between poor performance and 4C skills. Why? Because critical and creative thinking requires reasoning and comprehension of fundamental concepts”.

The problem with student ability also manifested in the school teacher’s case. Six teachers had difficulty teaching 4C skills because of their students’ low ability, including mastering basic knowledge such as multiplication and division concepts and only being able to solve procedural questions. For example, [ST02] explained that “students’ basic knowledge was limited, so I had to reteach again such as the concept of multiplication, which must be mastered in primary school level, but as a secondary school teacher I had to reteach it, if not today lesson will be stuck”. In addition, this participant added “students only able to solve procedural questions, if the questions were changed a bit, they require assistance from teacher”. The same tension was also mentioned by [ST05], who stated that “I think most students lacked fundamental knowledge. I observed that they do not understand even the most elementary math concepts”. These indicate a problem related to students’ ability that hinders educators at all education levels from teaching 4C skills.

The challenge will appear more significant if students lack interest and motivation in learning. Their self-directed learning was so weak. [TE10] mentioned that “most of my students were unwilling to study. Is this due to the generation gap? It is such problematics. They are the instant generation who are unwilling even to take note while studying”. [TE01] is also concerned about this condition by saying that “students lack the motivation to find information beyond what is provided in class. They seem unwilling to find it on their own, but if I give it to them, they will, but they should be dictated. They are demanded by giving other tasks”. In the case of school teachers, disposition appeared to be more prevalent than in the case of teacher educators. Low students’ dispositions, such as dependence, the perception that mathematics is a complex subject, dislike of math, and interest and motivation for learning contribute to a more significant challenge for teachers. For instance, [ST10] described that “the challenge is the students’ input in my school was low—interest and motivation for learning mathematics also the same. Only six to seven students out of thirty are highly motivated to learn. They dislike mathematics, I receive no response, and I talk alone. I am becoming tedious”. This condition is also mentioned by participant [ST01], who stated, “It is not difficult actually, but students were lazy, they did not want to learn or think”, and participant [ST05] stated, “their interest was low, many things were done to stimulate their thinking, but nothing worked”. This information might be necessary for teacher educators in university to convey to their students in terms of creating mathematics lessons to enhance students’ disposition.

This theme’s interpretation revealed that preparing prospective teachers with knowledge for teaching 4C skills in the face of low mathematical proficiency, aptitude, interest, and motivation is one of the most significant challenges for teacher education institutions. Mathematics teachers also encountered a similar problem at schools. According to Malik (2018), this is due to a lack of quality control on graduates who enter teacher training programs and a lack of rigor in the region’s teacher training program. The inability of teacher training institutes to entice more able students to enroll in teacher training courses is a factor in the supply of low-performing teacher candidates to mathematics education departments. It is also possible because transitioning from secondary to tertiary education is difficult for student teachers, requiring them to engage in substantially different learning behaviors than in high school (Liebendörfer et al., 2023). Another possible explanation is the outbreak of COVID-19, where many incoming college students have experienced learning loss. The conditions exert tremendous pressure on their motivation to learn mathematics in class. Fake learning, where students may appear to be engaged in learning activities but are not genuinely acquiring knowledge or skills, is a common phenomenon among school students due to school closure during the pandemic (Sato, 2023).

Additionally, the concepts of the didactic transposition (Chevallard, 1989) can provide valuable insights into comprehending the underlying reasons behind certain students’ lack of motivation in learning mathematics. The constructs help analyze the complex interplay between mathematical content, teaching strategies, and student engagement. Chevallard called didactic transposition a process of transforming mathematical knowledge from its original form (academic mathematics) to a form suitable for teaching (didactic mathematics). This transformation can impact students’ motivation. Suppose the process of transposing mathematical concepts leads to their presentation as arid, disjointed, or devoid of relevance to the lives of students. In that case, it may engender a need for more motivation. Many students may need help perceiving the practical or real-world implications of the knowledge they acquire. In order to tackle this issue, educators can endeavour to imbue the instructional material with greater significance and applicability. The demonstration of the relevance of mathematics in addressing practical issues and its interconnectedness with many domains of knowledge can be effectively showcased. Promoting the development of critical thinking skills, fostering inquisitiveness, and facilitating the exploration of mathematical concepts can effectively enhance students’ motivation. Therefore, it is crucial to design a didactic situation that fosters both learning and motivation. A requisite for a well-structured mathematical situation is the provision of opportunities for students to engage in exploration, experimentation, and the subsequent discovery of mathematical concepts (Chevallard, 2015).

4.2. Educator-related challenge

Another theme from our data analysis of teacher educators’ cases is the inability and lack of conceptual understanding of 4C skills among teacher educators. As shown in Figure 2, this theme was derived from two categories constructed from fifteen codes. Only four out of ten participants can comprehensively explain the concept of 4C skills and the demand for 21^st-century teaching and learning. However, all (10) believe that future mathematics teachers must be equipped with 4C skills because the current school curriculum requires the skills, which triggers them to try their best to implement 4C skills-based instruction. Eight participants acknowledged that their competencies for teaching 4C skills-based instruction in their courses require improvement. They are not yet satisfied with their efforts to assist their students in acquiring these skills. For example, [TE10] said, “I believe the challenge comes from myself as a lecturer, as we ask students to communicate and collaborate but forget to provide them with learning activities that stimulate the development of these skills. We require them to think critically and creatively, but my instructions are the same. My instruction abilities needed to be improved to assist them in developing the 4C skills”. [TE06] added that “the teaching knowledge and skills of educators should be enhanced so that they can deliver a lesson that comfortably meets the needs of their students”. In addition, one of the senior teacher educators [TE08], whom also head of mathematics education department said that “Generally, there is no challenge for me. However, there are many young lecturers and senior lecturers in our department, which has become challenging. Those senior lecturers are resistant to change. In the meantime, the junior employees, surely because they do not have much experience, so we need to train them”.

This finding could be interpreted that the capacity of teacher educators (lecturers) to conduct a course based on 4C skills become a factor that impedes them from helping pre-service mathematics teacher develop the skill for teaching 4C skills. This finding is consistent with Malik (2018) and Revina (2022) who contend that some obstacles are rooted in inadequate teacher educator training, the dearth of quality teacher educators, and the lack of equity.

This theme in school teachers’ cases is seen in Figure 2. Six teachers acknowledged that their understanding of frameworks for 21^st-century skills, precisely 4C skills, needs improvement. Related to this, [ST02] stated, “I think teachers should have capacity because future teaching is more challenging; if we are left behind, students may lose interest in our lesson”. The same problem was also echoed by ST07 “teacher should read extensively; they are not temporary learners but lifelong learners. If a teacher is not smart, it might affect their students, and [ST09] said, “Teacher ability is important, especially for me who does not have educational studies background because my degree is pure mathematics, so I have to learn pedagogy, instructional models by myself”. More specific [ST08] mentioned that “we have difficulty in comprehending that theory, so we need coaching program. We understand as such, but the appropriate one is not as such. In addition, motivation for teachers to conduct 4C skills-based instruction is also problematic in this case. Students’ lack of enthusiasm for learning has demotivated teachers. For instance, [ST08] stated, “Students’ interest in learning was low, a challenge I have faced for the past two decades of teaching. This condition renders me unmotivated”. This issue is also raised by [ST10], by saying, “Students are uninterested; I am uninterested as well. When students have lost interest, we need to be more inventive. It appears that my knowledge is insufficient. Many efforts have been made. I need to motivate myself”. This finding indicates that teachers’ ability and motivation to conduct mathematics lessons that foster students’ 4C skills must be enhanced. The findings should serve as a baseline for teacher education institutions as they design professional development programs for teachers. In this, mathematics teacher training programs in universities should emphasize 4C skills instruction and innovate so that future mathematics teachers can satisfy the current demand of 21^st-century teaching and learning (Allmendinger et al., 2023; Chikiwa et al., 2019).

4.3. Pedagogical challenge

The teacher educators believed that teaching 4C skills to their prospective mathematics teachers was essential. All of them (10) stated it clearly by explaining why it is essential, and due to this belief, they have implemented 4C skills in their courses. However, seven admitted that their pedagogical knowledge for teaching the skills to their students was insufficient. For example, [TE01] and [TE03] mentioned a similar statement that they conceptually understand 4C skills but need to learn how to teach them. More specifically, [TE10] stated that everything begins with educators. “I realize that my critical thinking skills are insufficient for training my students. So, both students and educators still have much work to do regarding teaching 4C skills”. Similar tension was also raised by [TE01], who stated, “From my perspective as a lecturer, I struggle to select or provide appropriate mathematical problems for my students to develop their 4C skills. Many claim that the problems are HOTS, but it is not HOTS at all”. This issue is also problematic for [TE03], who expressed that “the lecturer must have the ability to convey something easy to understand, must be able to explain from difficult language to the easy and simple one. Providing proper analogy is difficult, and we cannot use the books’ language directly”.

In this theme, pedagogical issues have been identified as an additional challenge in preparing pre-service teachers to teach 4C skills. Even though educators are aware of the demand, understand the concept, believe in its significance, and are willing to adopt it in their course, they struggle with pedagogy issues such as selecting mathematical problems suited to 4C skills development, providing analogies to explain contents to the understandable one, designing tasks for students with varying ability levels, and the time-intensive nature of conducting the course. This finding confirms the findings of previous research, such as Bray (2016) and Malik (2018), who report several barriers educators encountered.

In contrast, the pedagogical challenge is less significant for school teachers’ cases. They encounter more problems during the implementation process, which we call a practical challenge. This includes difficulties in group formation, lesson management, time constraints, media usage, and pedagogical approach application. For example, [ST04] mentioned that “it is difficult to form a heterogeneous group of students due to the prevalence of student diversity. The number of students with the lowest performance is bigger than the highest. The group discussion may vacuum when I place them in the same group. If this occurred, the lesson would be delayed and may not be completed”. Related to the pedagogical approach and time constraints [ST08] explained, “When I used problem-based learning (PBL), asking students to solve the problem at the beginning, it was not working at all. Due to their lack of interest in learning, I must switch to a discussion approach. With limited time, I believe that the PBL step is barely completed”. Among these problems, lesson management is entirely unexpected, in contrast to previous studies. Teachers encounter difficulty conducting 4C skills instruction because of math class time allocation and other subject teachers’ instruction practices. [ST05] stated that “math classes were typically scheduled in the afternoon along with other challenging subjects such as science, so students were prone to fatigue, I think thus impacted the implementation process as well”. This participant also mentioned that “mathematics classes were taught by several teachers using different approaches. Most require students to take notes and complete exercises”. This condition was also problematic for [ST10]. “I think one of the prevalent challenges in our school was teacher practice in daily teaching. Students must take ten subjects taught by ten different teachers, eight of whom preferred students to remain seated and silent while taking notes and doing exercises or homework. Only two teachers prefer students to study in groups, discuss their work, and present it creatively and critically. Therefore, promoting 4C skills among students is difficult if many teachers hold this view”. It can be inferred that school teachers struggle with practical matters when implementing 4C skills-based instruction. As a result, they do not provide a learning experience for students to develop their skills. Sunardi and Doringin (2020) suggested that the TPD program must facilitate teachers with this inquiry of 4C skills teaching and learning.

4.4. PD Program and facility-related challenge

The discussion with teacher educators revealed a need to provide support with facilities and programs for professional development. Due to a lack of support, resources and capacity, they cannot adequately prepare prospective teachers to teach 4C skills. All teacher educators agreed that participation in professional development (PD) programs such as workshops, webinars, conferences, and discussions with the learning community could help them deliver instruction based on 4C skills. However, support for the PD program provided by the mathematics education department, faculty or university was insufficient. For example, [TE03] stated, “I do not see any support from my university to teach 4C skills. They focus on the current policy regarding freedom of learning and freedom of university, in which students are encouraged to participate in student exchange or mobility”. The same sentiment was also reiterated by [TE02], who said, “For the time being, the lecturer competency development program still low possibly due to some reasons. Suppose the lecturers want to develop their skills; in that case, we should discover several free webinars or other resources”. This statement is supported by [TE10], which stated, “if specifically related to 4C skill implementation is not yet. However, since 2018 I have been focusing my research on higher-order thinking skills (HOTS), which includes thinking aspects such as critical thinking, which is part of 4C skills. So, I have participated in a HOTS-related workshop”. A participant from one public university, represented by [TE09], stated, “Faculty views lecturer as a full glass if there is a workshop, most of the lecturers do not want to participate’. In addition, learning environment supporting their professional development, such as a learning community, especially lesson study, are uncommon in their setting. Information about lesson study implementation in university is new for them. Nine participants reported that the lesson study community does not exist in their university. There is only a face-to-face and online lecturer forum for discussing any issues with teaching and learning.

Data analysis shows that the availability of university facilities such as learning sources, IT equipment and other learning facilities impede the teacher educators’ ability to teach 4C skills. This condition is notably the actual of privately funded universities. For instance, [TE01] stated, “Unavailability of facilities has become a problem for me because fewer students own laptops or smartphones. In order to apply technology-based instruction for teaching 4C skills in my classroom, these items are needed. I have participated in useful workshops, but I cannot apply to them because of limited facilities”. The same issue was raised by [TE07], who stated, “Our facilities at private universities are not comparable to those at public universities. As a lecturer, I occasionally prepare lessons to enhance students’ 4C skills two weeks in advance. So, the challenge is that I must exert great effort as our learning facilities were insufficient to support my students in developing 4C skills. Yeah, that is because of limited facilities”. This obstacle is also analogous to the condition described by [TE07], who said, “The reading materials are still limited. At the same time, as a lecturer, we should provide related references”. In a specific way, [TE03] mentioned that “learning sources, such as books on 21^st-century skills teaching and learning, were unavailable; there is a book on HOTS, but the content does not to be HOTS”. This theme depicts teacher educators’ challenge in supporting their students to develop the capacity for teaching 4C skills due to limited professional development programs and facilities support. This finding is consistent with Kim et al. (2019), who reported that a context-specific understanding of teaching practices and a meaningful approach to support educator professional development is a significant barrier to achieving desired development.

This obstacle is also an issue in school teacher educators’ cases. As shown in Figure 2, the lack of TPD programs and facilities is evident in school teacher data. This theme was generated from two categories with eleven codes. All participants (10) said they needed support to integrate 4C skills in the daily mathematics classroom because the TPD program conducted by the district education authority and mathematics teachers’ forum was not specific to 4C skills. Most workshops were centered on solving HOTS questions, designing lesson plans, pointing to the current policy, “Kurikulum Merdeka”, and different learning. In addition, the duration of the TPD program was insufficient, and the participants did not perceive the program’s benefit. Regarding this, [ST05] mentioned that “there was a workshop for teachers, but two days were not enough for us to master all the material; a follow-up program is needed, such as coaching to ensure the appropriate implementation in the classroom so that we can feel the impact of the program”. Further, the participant added that “the PD activities in teacher forum, which everyone knows, only discuss how to solve HOTS questions. If the topic was lesson plan design, the result of our design was never discussed in terms of its correctness. I am disappointed because it offers me no advantage”. [ST10] echoes the same tension by stating, “What we lack is coaching, if only instruction without training and coaching was not maximal. With coaching, we consult any obstacle, and the instructor can provide guidance, then we can continue teaching”. This indicates that 4C skills knowledge and its implementation strategy should be included in a continuous PD program for teachers. Regarding this, teacher education is an important program so quality control and teacher certification contribute to its success (Baldry & Foster, 2019; Chikiwa et al., 2019; Kawuryan et al., 2021). However, professional development does not have a positive effect on the service productivity of school teachers and is seen as ineffective (Arif et al., 2022; Revina, 2022). This ineffectiveness is likely due to PD activities in mathematics lacking practical relevance to their future professional work (Allmendinger et al., 2023). TPD program designers should consider this issue so that teachers can adapt to the development of new learning and improve new ways of teaching 4C skills (Sunardi & Doringin, 2020).

In addition, the facilities to support 4C skills integration in mathematics classroom was limited. This includes classroom equipment (electricity wire and projector), reading materials and instructional tools. Six teachers mentioned that these materials were scarce in their schools. For example, [ST05] mentioned, “We have projectors, but it is insufficient. The reading material is also limited”. This problem was also raised by [ST01], “We have facility aid from the government, but the tools were damaged, and we cannot use them”, and [ST06] “, because several classrooms lack a projector or its installation is damaged, we have to write manually on the board or use manual teaching tools, which most students find uninteresting”. This is evident that a lack of facilities prevents teachers from integrating 4C skills in mathematics classrooms. Teachers in developing countries face facility-related challenges such as poor buildings, limited teaching resources, poor infrastructure, lack of training opportunities, isolation and security problems (Kawuryan et al., 2021), which negatively impact the quality of teaching and student achievement.

4.5. Political challenge

The last theme from our data analysis is a political challenge, comprising six categories: demand, funding, policy implementation, curriculum, university management, and monitoring and evaluation. Two participants mentioned explicitly that their university’s mathematics teacher education program does not demand them to teach 4C skills. For instance, [TE02] mentions, “The curriculum in mathematics education program does not require lecturers for teaching 4C skills. So far, it could be because my curriculum knowledge is limited”. This issue is also echoed by [TE06]: “There is no instruction about teaching 4C skills in our curriculum. To date, we have focused on instructional procedure”. However, reviews of the curriculum and lesson plans of each teacher education institution have shown that existing curricula already include many 21^st-century competencies. However, the challenge lies in systematically implementing these curricula by aligning them with appropriate pedagogy, assessment, professional development programs, and monitoring and evaluation.

Those who claimed that the curriculum required them to teach 4C skills in their course acknowledged that there is no specific university regulation regarding teaching 4C skills. In this instance, [TE03] mentioned, “Yes, but not yet synchronized. Teachers are required to teach lessons that develop students’ 4C skills in school. In contrast, no regulation requires teacher educators to teach student teachers to have the skills in higher institutions. I mean robust policy; even as lecturers, we frequently hear about the NCTM and education foundation. However, no regulation requires this, and workshops on 4C skills and HOTS-based instruction are less prevalent in tertiary education than in elementary and secondary school”. This problem is similar to [TE04] statements “It should have regulation first, then it is disseminated to faculties and departments. So far, it is just lecturers’ initiatives”. Also, [TE10] mentioned that “we are not yet prepared in the curriculum for teaching 4C skills. At least the teaching and learning strategy course should devote a chapter to this topic. In other words, lecturer and curriculum are not ready yet in our university, with only a few lecturers willing to do so, but not explicitly; even students do not realize that it is 4C skills”. Moreover, the evaluation of teacher instruction is based on something other than 4C skills, although the curriculum mandates daily implementation. This condition indicates that despite the government’s appeal for the instruction of 4C skills, the system implementation is unavailable in some universities. This condition could be due to a lack of understanding or awareness of the importance of these skills or competing priorities, budget constraints that limit the availability of funds, and teacher training programs that may not adequately prepare pre-service teachers in this area.

This study corroborates the findings of Malik (2018) and Revina (2022), which indicate that teacher colleges have yet to be successful in producing adequately trained teachers capable of giving good mathematics teaching. Several elements, including potential teacher inputs, curriculum, and the certification system, have been highlighted as problematic and have been found to impact the prevailing conditions. Interpreting this theme, it is necessary to look back at the policy to reflect the curricula, emphasizing skill development more explicitly by providing systemic regulation to ensure daily implementation. It is a highly complex process that requires in-depth discussions among stakeholders in education to reach a consensus, followed by intensive capacity development for implementation.

Compared to the teacher educators’ unit, the political barrier experienced by school teachers was quite different. In Indonesia, the 4C skills integration policy at the school level is well-established. Curriculum, teacher guidelines and an assessment system are provided to help teachers implement policy. The policy has been issued since the commencement of the 21^st-century teaching and learning implementation frameworks and has been updated following current education development. At the university level, this is poorly established. However, the implementation process at the school level is not adequately monitored by the authority to determine whether teachers used it. All participants demonstrate their understanding that 4C skills are demanded in the mathematics curricula, where they are expected to develop their students’ 4C skills. Following the guidelines, they endeavored to implement the policy in response to this demand. Their teaching process was monitored, but neither the school principal nor the supervisor from the district education board specifically supervised their 4C skills instruction. This is merely a routine inspection. For example, [ST09] stated that “there was school and district supervision, but they do not specifically monitor the implementation of 4C skills instruction”. This situation was also reported by [ST10] “As far as I am aware, the supervision procedure during these five years did not emphasise 4C skills. They reviewed the lesson plan, observed our lesson and provided feedback, that is all”. This is an indication that regulation on integration 4C skills at both the university and school level needs to be strengthened. Revitalizing teacher curricula, controlling their implementation, and strengthening the role of teacher educators is a key to change.

Overall, the findings reveal that university and school teachers face similar challenges in equipping learners with 4C skills, indicating that equipping teachers for teaching 4C skills is a complex task. Prospective mathematics teachers did not get appropriate training on 4C skills instruction due to the barriers including lack of learners’ ability and motivation, lack of educators’ competency and belief, lack of supporting program and facility, and poor regulation. It is suggested that both groups could collaborate to address these issues.

5. Implication and recommendation

This research study was designed to generate an understanding of the challenge faced by teacher education institutions in preparing prospective mathematics teachers with knowledge for teaching 4C skills. The discussion with teacher educators revealed that future mathematics teachers must first acquire 4C skills to teach the skill in mathematics classrooms. However, some teacher educators are concerned about mathematics teacher graduates’ inability and lack of motivation. It is believed that pre-service mathematics teachers with limited knowledge of fundamental mathematics need help to develop their 4C skills, which hinders their ability to teach 4C skills-seeing that limited mathematics ability and less motivation in learning has led to other issues for pre-service teachers who should teach mathematics content using appropriate pedagogical approaches, learning activities, ICT equipment and proper assessment tools to develop their students’ 4C skills in the daily mathematics classroom.

This study suggests two potential ways to avoid or mitigate this issue. First, the starting point would be at enrollment process, where teacher education institutes ensure that students enrolling in teacher training have a strong foundation of mathematics concepts, a high literacy and numeracy rate, a willingness to continue learning, and a passion for teaching. They should regulate admission to teacher education to balance the demand for and supply of teachers. Teachers passionate about the profession acquire advanced subject knowledge and employ advanced pedagogical teaching and learning practices. If this requirement is not met, teacher education institutions will produce unqualified mathematics teachers, which will harm the academic performance of Indonesian students. Moreover, this chain of poor performance seems challenging to break.

Second, it is necessary to provide supporting programs such as a new curriculum reform, workshops, academic attachments, learning communities and school visits. Innovative teacher educators should see their students as an asset, and the learning experiences should be designed based on each student’s unique strengths and ability level. It could help them create a more dynamic and inclusive learning environment where all students feel empowered to contribute and collaborate, increasing student motivation and a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Students’ ability is expected no longer to be an excuse for educational failure in Indonesia. However, to meet the growing challenges, teacher educators need a new kind of preparation that enables them to go beyond covering the curriculum and teaching to instil a passion for student learning. A new learning system is needed to encourage future mathematic teachers to be lifelong learners, creative, connected and collaborative problem solvers, particularly in developing their knowledge and skills for teaching 4C skills.

Regarding teacher educators’ lack of competency and conceptual understanding of 4C skills, teacher education institutes should support them with guidance, workshops, research grants and facilities to develop skills necessary to conduct mathematics courses based on 4C skills. It is critically important to support and encourage their professionalism, continue investing in them, and reward them for creating innovative instruction. To some extent, prospective mathematics teachers may imitate their teacher educators’ teaching practices, as they frequently view them as role models who are practical and successful. It is believed that the behaviors and practices exhibited by teacher educators in the classroom can substantially affect their student teachers’ teaching practice. For instance, if teacher educators are innovative in engaging students’ critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration during their lectures, their student teachers are more likely to model this knowledge in their teaching. Similarly, if teacher educators demonstrate an inclusive and respectful learning environment, their student teachers tend to implement these values in their classrooms. In short, prospective teachers bring their unique experiences, perspectives, and knowledge to the mathematics classroom, influenced by their educators’ teaching styles and approaches. Consequently, teacher educators’ capacity to design innovative 4C skills-based instruction must be improved.

While related to pedagogical challenges, lack of support and facilities and political challenges, it necessitates a policy review. The content, pedagogy, assessment, facilities, professional development activity and its following programs and the quality control should be systematically regulated for curriculum implementation centered on 4C skills. Adjustments to financing, governance practice and technological advancement are also necessary for its implementation in teacher training institutes. An effective change strategy necessitates that educational institutes continually find new possibilities and directions for enhancing the teaching and learning of 4C skills in the classroom. They should provide opportunities for mathematics pre-service teachers to actively develop teaching skills to meet students’ teaching and learning requirements in the twenty-first century. Otherwise, the government or university’s educational reform will be superficial and counterproductive.

This study suggests using the lesson study platform as an approach to improve both educators’ and students’ capabilities. The school-university partnership (SUPER-LS) is one potential lesson study platform that can support prospective mathematics teachers from the university and in-service teachers from a school in acquiring knowledge for teaching 4C skills. This model of TPD allows collaboration among prospective teachers, in-service teachers, and teachers educators to practice lesson study in schools and the university within an established structure, which is crucial for designing innovative strategies for teaching 4C skills employing the expertise of university professors, school teachers, and research scholars to bridge theory and practice (Farrell, 2021; Fitriati et al., 2022, 2023; Nurwidodo et al., 2018). SUPER-LS is a powerful teacher training program for both prospective and in-service teachers, with collaboration as an essential component in the learning process for promoting improvements, particularly change in 21^st-century teaching and learning of mathematics classrooms. Additionally, the members of this learning community could focus on the transposition process of mathematical concepts aligned with 4C skills being presented in the classroom both at the university and school level within this program as professional development activities. The program could be a solution to overcome the challenges related to students, educators, pedagogic, supports and policy as recovered by this study.

6. Conclusion

Prevalent obstacles existed for teacher education institutions in preparing prospective mathematics instructors to teach 4C skills. Similar issues exist in schools where mathematics teachers struggle to enhance students’ 4C skills. This study identifies students’ ability and instructor capacity as two significant challenges encountered by university-level teacher educators. While at the school level, students’ ability and practical challenges appear to be the predominant obstacle. Much work is required at the tertiary level to equip mathematics teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary to teach 4C skills. Teacher training institutions must adopt a dynamic approach to equipping incoming graduates with the necessary tools, such as regulating the enrollment, learning, and graduation processes. They should provide opportunities for pre-service teachers to acquire 4C skills to meet the current demand for mathematics teachers in the twenty-first century. It is also essential to focus on the 4C skills of teacher educators and rethink how universities can evaluate and train them. The university should consider the challenge that school teachers face in integrating 4C skills in mathematics in designing teaching-learning programs to prepare future mathematics teachers better. As a teacher-producing institution, the university is responsible for providing relevant mathematics education programs that align with international schools’ requirements. Providing the mathematics teacher education program with effective systemic policy and supporting programs, as suggested in the recommendations, brings us one step closer to filling the void presently experienced by frustrated educational practitioners and policymakers.

7. Limitation

It is clear from this analysis that the challenge teacher education institution faces in preparing prospective mathematics teachers with knowledge of 21^st century skills is prevalent. It was intriguing to discover that many problems identified in the literature review regarding mathematics teacher preparation were highlighted by teacher educators and school teachers who participated in this study. However, it is essential to identify study limitations. First, the sample used in this exploratory study comprises instructors who volunteered to participate. The sample is, therefore, self-selected and cannot be considered representative. A further limitation of this study is its small scale; the analysis of ten teacher educators and ten school teachers’ interview transcripts and lesson plans is unlikely to permit the development of a substantial theory. However, the consistency of the results confirms the difficulties emphasized by the findings of previous studies. In addition, this study must be expanded to investigate the emerging themes in depth.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Center for Education Financial Service, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education, and University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) under grant number GUP-2021-028.

Notes on contributors

Fitriati Fitriati

Fitriati Fitriati is a doctoral student in the mathematics education program of University Kebangsaan Malaysia. She is also a teacher educator in the teacher profession education (TPE) program of Universitas Bina Bangsa Getsempena, Indonesia. Her research interests include mathematics education, teacher professional development, rich mathematical tasks, teaching and learning of 21^st century skills, lesson study within school-university partnerships, educational assessment, and teacher training. She is also a member of the Indonesia Association of Lesson Study and the World Association of Lessson Study (WALS).

Roslinda Rosli

Roslinda Rosli is an Associate Professor at the Research Centre of STEM Enculturation, Faculty of Education, the National University of Malaysia (UKM). Her areas of expertise include problem-solving, problem-solving, teacher knowledge, and STEM. Dr. Rosli is also active in grant research projects and writes and publishes papers, journal articles, books, and book chapters locally and internationally.

Zanaton Iksan

Zanaton Iksan is a lecturer at the University of Kebangsaan Malaysia and a researcher from the Centre of STEM Enculturation. Her research interests are science education, STEM education, and lesson study. She is working with school teachers to promote lesson study in Malaysia.

Arif Hidayat

Arif Hidayat is a lecturer at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, working extensively with school teachers for Teacher Professional Learning Activities through Learning and Lesson Study, Science through Inquiry, TPACK, Teaching and Learning Analytics, STEM learning leadership, and Large-Scale Assessment.