Abstract

Teachers' knowledge of mathematics is key to student learning and even to the quality of the classes they are able to provide. This suggests that the knowledge special education teachers hold about mathematics will have an impact on the students they teach. However, the issue of what mathematics special education teachers should know is an open line in the literature. In this context, the aim of this paper is to identify the knowledge needed to teach mathematics by special education teachers, as held by six special education teachers and six primary school teachers, with regard to the knowledge needed to teach mathematics by special education teachers in co-teaching contexts. The teachers' responses were obtained through group interviews and the results show that they recognize limitations on content knowledge, as well as pedagogical content knowledge, that initial training was not able to provide. Particularly, in content knowledge, participants refer to a lack of knowledge of the importance of knowledge of the discipline, which triggers a need for specialized training and which is carried out through self-training. Regarding the pedagogical content knowledge, the participants point out the importance of knowledge of the features of student learning and of specialized teaching strategies and techniques. We conclude with a call for attention to mathematics educators and special education educators to discuss the mathematics training of special education teachers.