Out-of-field mathematics teachers: an investigation into their confidence, knowledge and understanding of rational numbers

Much research on mathematics teacher knowledge and understanding focuses on preservice or inservice teachers. However, there is a significant cohort of teachers of mathematics that remain under studied, namely Out-of-Field Teachers (OOFTs). These teachers of mathematics are certified to teach subjects other than mathematics but are required to teach mathematics as part of their timetabled hours. OOFTs constitute a significant proportion of the teaching workforce internationally. In this study we investigate, through a pen and paper assessment, the knowledge and understanding of a cohort of OOFTs enrolled on an upskilling programme, known as the Professional Diploma in Mathematics for Teaching. The findings show that while OOFTs recognise the value of having strong content knowledge, their confidence in their own content knowledge was low. This low level of confidence aligns with their performance on the assessment of the four core operations of rational numbers – addition, subtraction, multiplication, division—where significant misconceptions were evident, particularly for those in their early years of teaching mathematics. A variety of the misconceptions demonstrated by teachers will be presented in this paper. The implications of these findings are far reaching for the esteem and self-efficacy of these teachers and for the learning outcomes of the students they teach. The findings also underscore the need for professional development of OOFTs to focus on the development of OOFTs’ mathematics knowledge and understanding and establish a link between it and pedagogical knowledge. One mechanism for doing this is to introduce a module/(s) that revisits school mathematics from an advanced standpoint.