Mathematics teacher education in the Czech Republic and Hungary: commonalities and differences

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to show whether the systems of mathematics teacher education in two countries whose historical development may seem quite similar (the Czech Republic and Hungary were parts of the Habsburg Monarchy, and they were part of the Eastern European communist block) are also very similar, or whether each country follows its own, unique path. In this paper we build on the general need for more international comparative studies in the area of teacher education. We present a historical review of development of mathematics teacher education in both countries and analyse and compare current teacher education programs, their structure and organization, the demands on mathematics teachers and their qualifications for teaching at various levels. In the paper we pinpoint a number of aspects resulting in differences in the two systems, including historical development and traditions, (de)-centralization, globalization and international cooperation, etc. The comparison based on these aspects shows that the systems in both countries are very different. The analysis described in this paper could become the starting point for further research using the data from international surveys (e.g. PISA). Such research would enable us to make conjectures about the effects of various ways of organizing teacher education.