Knowledge Expectations Matter: Mathematics Teacher Preparation Programs in South Korea and the United States

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss comparative knowledge expectations for mathematics teachers in their respective sociohistorical contexts. Specifically, this study examines the official educational aims and curricula of 49 mathematics teacher preparation programs in South Korea and the United States, where substantial differences have been observed in both student achievement and teacher knowledge. Overall, our findings suggest that transnational commonalities and national differences simultaneously affect social expectations for teacher knowledge. We argue that attending to both culturally contextualized and semantically decontextualized dimensions offers a more balanced comparative perspective from which we can better evaluate the current status of teacher education. Constructive international dialogue can be facilitated by such a balanced perspective, and may further enrich teacher education without ignoring either profound differences in sociohistorical contexts or important commonalities in epistemic models of teacher education across countries.