Math teachers say students will suffer as teacher certification rules ease – Winnipeg Free Press

Mathematicians are calling for relaxed teacher certification requirements to be scrapped over concerns that new teachers will be ill-prepared to teach numeracy skills.

“The people who are going to get hurt here are the children,” Anna Stokke, a professor at the University of Winnipeg and a self-described advocate for math education, said at a news conference at the Manitoba legislature on Wednesday.

“They’re removing barriers for adults to get into a teacher preparation program with literally no math skills, and they’re going to create barriers for the students they teach.”

Manitoba’s education system no longer requires elementary school teachers to complete six credit hours in the following subjects: mathematics, science, one of Canada’s official languages, and geography and history combined.

A series of regulatory changes took effect last month to address labor shortages and streamline the certification process.

Among these, aspiring teachers at all levels no longer need to specialize in an approved list of major or minor subjects, often referred to as “teachable” subjects at the university level.

Daria Barr said aspiring elementary teachers who enroll in her pre-math courses at the University of Manitoba already arrive with “severe math anxiety.”

Teachers need more training to build their confidence and foundation in the subject matter—and nothing less, said Barr, a senior lecturer in the mathematics department.

Stokke and Barr said they and their colleagues were surprised to learn about the changes.

In 2011, Stokke started a petition and sought support from the math, science and engineering departments to lobby for higher expectations for math teachers. A few years later, the then NDP government raised the minimum subject credit threshold from three to six.

She said scientists were concerned that students were entering university with “incredibly weak” maths skills, and those concerns persist.

“We often see students coming to university and not knowing how to work with fractions. Sometimes they can’t figure out the percentage or know what the ratio means,” she said, flanked by Grant Jackson, the official opposition’s education critic.

Jackson, PC MLA for Spruce Woods, raised the issue in the chamber before co-hosting a press conference calling for stricter requirements to be reinstated.

“A teacher applying for a K-8 job may not have taken a single math class since middle school,” he said, before asking Tracey Schmidt, the acting secretary of education, how the changes would improve student achievement in math. .

In response, Schmidt said the measures would lower barriers to entry and bring the province in line with many other Canadian jurisdictions.

British Columbia, Quebec, and Nova Scotia currently still require a minimum of three credits in mathematics for elementary teacher certification.

“The best way to raise and improve math scores and standards here in Manitoba is to spend more one-on-one time with the teacher,” Schmidt later said Free press.

The minister said the NDP is focused on “restaffing” the education sector and recruiting more internationally trained teachers as many local educators have left the profession under Progressive Conservative leadership.

“Everyone is on board with these changes,” she added, noting the province has consulted with the teachers union, the Council of Deans of Education and associations representing school boards, independent schools and superintendents.

University of Maryland Dean Ian Stewart said promising teacher candidates have long found loopholes to avoid taking extra math credits when entering the entry-level graduate program.

Some left the province to study, while others entered high school at university when they wanted to teach in junior high, Stewart said.

Regardless of specialty, Manitoba certifies all teachers to teach in grades kindergarten through 12th grade.

Teachers must understand and teach mathematics very differently from the way mathematicians, physicists and chemists do, says Martha Koch, assistant professor of curriculum, teaching and learning at the University of Missouri.

“Although it sounds counterintuitive, having more college credits in math is not associated with more effective math teaching for elementary and middle school teachers,” said Koch, who studies math teacher preparation.

U of M, which boasts the largest faculty of education in the province, plans to continue requiring all education students to take courses in mathematics teaching to graduate.

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