This book discusses competence teacher competence and professional error competence of
teachers and emphasizes the need for a training programme that supports the latter. The book
starts out by presenting results from previous studies that underline the necessity to train
professional error competence of teachers especially in the field of accounting. The studies
analysed include research in the field of accounting and on the efficacy of teacher training.
Next considerations on training programmes are presented. From these analyses a training
programme was designed to support professional error competence in accounting. This training
programme aims for increased knowledge about students' errors (content knowledge) and offers
strategies to handle these errors (pedagogical content knowledge). Both are central facets of
professional error competence. The book describes the development characteristics
implementation and evaluation of this programme. It details thetest platform that was
developed and used for the assessment of professional error competence and critically
discusses the results from the evaluation of the training programme from various perspectives.
The current discussion on teacher training and expertise is influenced by empirical results
obtained in international large-scale studies such as PISA and TIMSS. The findings of the
studies underpin the discussion on teaching quality and teachers' professional competences. The
key issue is that teacher competence has an impact on teaching quality and this in turn
influences students' achievements. International comparative studies reveal that teachers often
lack central competence facets and therefore it is assumed that standard teacher training
programmes may fail to successfully prepare student teachers for their tasks. Therefore
customized training programmes are currently being discussed. Their focus is mostly on
pedagogical content knowledge and classroom practices because these competence facets are
essential for teaching quality.
