Professional Knowledge and Abilities of a Mathematics Teacher Leader

In the new Grades 1-9 school curriculum, the "mathematics teacher leader" plays an important role. Here we first discuss the necessary professional knowledge and abilities of the mathematics teacher leader, and then we explore what actual mathematics teacher leaders think about their own professional knowledge and abilities. We analyze the differences between the requisite knowledge/abilities on the theoretical and on the practical level, and discuss the reasons for these differences. According to our study, the professional knowledge/abilities of mathematics teacher leaders may be classified into: professional knowledge, leadership competency, and practical matters abilities. The degree of leadership competency was also found to be a function of: whether the teacher has more than one job; the teacher's professional status; and the amount of resources available to the teacher. Keywords: mathematic teacher leader, professional knowledge