NewsPolicy & Reform
Teachers say training leaves them unprepared
Research has sparked fresh calls for a review of teacher training courses, as less than half of teaching graduates indicate they feel adequately trained in a number of key professional areas.
Please login below to view content or subscribe now.
I am teaching in the University and I am sure that the mathematics education in the University is not at all good. It is hard to find good maths teachers in school because of bad Uni education.
In 2000 approximately less than 1% of the students used to undertake at least one maths units in HSC. In 2013 approximately 20% of the HSC students are not undertakig any maths in HSC. I have talked to many students regarding this matter. Recently students are discurraged by the teachers to undertake mathematics at school because the teachers are not properly prepared to teach maths.
I do strongly beleive that calculator should not be given in year 7. Calculators reduce the thinking ability of the students in the long run.
I agree with Girija. I am a VET tutor and find that most students I teach, have an skill average of year 6 maths. Reasons given for being disinterested rage mostly from teachers inability to teach subject, to boring and not relevant to students, to students with lower comprehension and retention levels distancing themselves from the subject due to lack of understanding and inadequate teacher interaction. Most students cannot calculate manually at all, so we go right back to basics and work through the different functions. Amazingly, there are many who cannot even use a calculator, the principal they find most useful then is rounding. What has happened to our education system that allows students to slip unnoticed. Time to reinvent the curriculum. If they are bored with material presented, they aren’t going to learn anything, and aren’t going to succeed in our society.