Diagnostics, Intervention and Counselling in Dyscalculia

How can Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Prospective Teachers be increased?

Abstract

Prospective primary mathematics teachers are expected to deal with children experiencing mathematical learning difficulties/dyscalculia. Standardized tests and training programs, as well as assessment for teaching, are two approaches to address these difficulties. Educational psychologists prefer standardized tests and intervention programs, while mathematics educators advocate more adaptive approaches. However, both perspectives are hardly presented and discussed together in teacher training programs. This paper introduces an interdisciplinary methods course conducted jointly by an educational psychologist and a mathematics educator. The course aims to raise pre-service teachers’ awareness of the challenges of dealing with mathematical learning difficulties and foster their self-effi-cacy in developing appropriate individual student support and counseling for parents. The course takes an integrated interdisciplinary approach, introducing au-thentic cases from the course leaders’ counseling centers. The seminar is organized into three key components: (1) Testing/Assessment, discussing the different functions, approaches, and tools available for diagnosing dyscalculia. (2) Counseling, addressing how test/assessment results are best communicated to parents and how teachers can guide them to support their children’s learning. (3) Intervention, introducing and reflecting on standardized enhancement programs and small group interventions. The seminar concept has been evaluated for its impact on the self-efficacy beliefs of participating pre-service teachers. Evaluation results are presented and discussed in the paper.