Developing and validating a competence framework for secondary mathematics student teachers through a Delphi method

Abstract

Initial teacher education programmes provide student teachers with the desired competences to develop themselves as teachers. Although a generic framework for teaching competences is available covering all school subjects in Spain, the initial teacher education programmes curriculum does not specify which competences secondary mathematics student teachers should acquire during their initial teacher education. This explains why this study aimed at developing and validating a competence framework for secondary mathematics student teachers in Spain. Building on existing models and international frameworks, a preliminary list of competences was drawn up. The validation process was based on a Delphi method. In addition experts expressed their opinions about the formulation of the chosen competences. A comprehensive framework of 33 competences for secondary mathematics student teachers could then be validated.

Keywords:

• Competences for teaching
• Delphi method
• initial teacher education programmes
• secondary mathematics teacher education

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all the experts who participated in the study for their collaboration, effort and perseverance during the development of the competence framework. Their opinions and suggestions as experts were very useful to validate our initial proposal. In addition, their participation was a key factor in order to achieve the minimum sample size needed for a Delphi method.