Homogeneity or Heterogeneity? Profiles of Opportunities to Learn in Primary Teacher Education and Their Relationship to Cultural Context and Outcomes

The curriculum of teacher education has been described as heterogeneous across countries and influenced by the context in which it is implemented. The present study investigates this potential heterogeneity by conducting latent class analysis of opportunities to learn mathematics, mathematics pedagogy and general pedagogy in primary teacher education as indicated by future teachers from 15 countries at the end of their training. The aim was to identify curricula profiles based on data from the “Teacher Education and Development Study: Learning to Teach Mathematics (TEDS-M)”. In each teacher education component, three groups of primary teachers were identified which differed quantitatively and qualitatively. Associations between these profiles and countries revealed broader cultural influences on OTL and thus shared (within a culture) and at the same time distinct (between cultures) visions of what primary teachers should know. Within countries, associations between curricula profiles and teacher education programs pointed to shared (within a program) and at the same time distinct (between programs) visions of what primary teachers should know at the end of their training. The OTL profiles were significantly related to outcomes of primary teacher education in terms of mathematics content knowledge, mathematics pedagogical content knowledge and general pedagogical knowledge.