ICMI Online Seminar Series for Capacity Building: Strengthening mathematics teacher education 

The online seminar series, established by the ICMI Executive Committee in 2026, aims to strengthen capacity building and foster international exchange on mathematics teacher education practices worldwide.

Goal

• Establish international dialogue on good content-specific practices to strengthen mathematics teacher educators for mathematics and mathematics education courses
• Hear experienced and inspiring mathematics teacher educators report on their work and offer core activities for individual adaptation in other contexts

Challenge to Be Addressed
Mathematics teacher educators continuously develop and refine practices for preparing and supporting pre-service and in-service teachers. Yet, much of this valuable work remains isolated. Although innovative approaches to mathematics teacher education are developed worldwide, they are rarely shared and critically discussed across countries and contexts.

International discourse has often focused on research findings or content-independent practices and has been strongly influenced by perspectives from high-income, well-resourced contexts. These approaches may not adequately reflect the diverse conditions in resource-constrained settings and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

There is a need to create opportunities for mathematics teacher educators to share and discuss their practical, content-specific work—both in mathematics-for-teaching and mathematics education courses—and to learn from one another across diverse contexts.

Target group
We cordially invite mathematics teacher educators in pre-service (and in-service) teacher education. The online format allows for wide participation even among those who are alone in their institutions or cannot travel to international conferences. 
We dedicate the online series mainly (but not exclusively) to teacher education in resource-constrained contexts.

Structure
Each seminar in the series is structured as a two-hour online meeting, with 

• 45 min input from an experienced and inspiring mathematics teacher educator, 
• 45 min try out of core activities and discussion about potential adaptations in small group work in breakout rooms with similar contexts, 
• then 30 min plenary discussion

Language
English

Resources to Take Away
To ensure practical utility, the speakers plan to provide resources for further use: These materials will be offered by each seminar an can be adapted and used in different contexts, e.g., with slides or worksheets. The material will be collected on an internal website and with links to further internet sources.

Project team (sorted alphabetically by first name)

• Cristina Sabena (Italy)
• Mercy Kazima (Malawi)
• Ram Ramanujam (India)
• Susanne Prediger (Germany)

The online seminars on teacher education on mathematics and on mathematics education can be attended separately.