The focus of the 15th Study, led by the International Commission on Mathematical
Instruction (ICMI), was the professional education and development of mathematics
teachers around the world. The study was designed to investigate practices and
programs of mathematics teacher education in different countries and to contribute
to an international discourse about the professional education of prospective and
practicing teachers of mathematics.
The premise of this study was that teachers are key to students’ opportunities to
learn mathematics. What mathematics teachers know, care about, and do is a product
of their experiences and socialization both prior to and after entering teaching,
together with the impact of their professional education. This impact is variously
significant: in some systems, the effects of professional education appear to be weak
or even negligible, whereas other systems are structured to support effective ongoing
professional education and instructional improvement.