Mediating Role of Mathematics Teaching Efficacy on the Relationship Between Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Mathematics Teaching Anxiety

Abstract

Effective education requires teaching efficacy, teaching anxiety, and teaching knowledge, all of which are essential elements. In-service mathematics teachers in the province of Quezon participated in this study to examine the role of mathematics teaching efficacy (MTE) as a mediator in the link between pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and mathematics teaching anxiety (MTA). 200 in-service mathematics teachers from the Division of Quezon participated in the study by completing a set of questionnaires that included the MTE Scale, MTA Scale, and PCK Scale. The study utilized a quantitative descriptive research design and a mediation analysis. As the main objectives of the study were identified through the problem statement, the researcher decided to adopt the research design as a tool that carried out the study and served as the blueprint to guide the study accordingly. The PROCESS macro was used to conduct mediation analysis to test the theoretical hypothesis. It was found that MTE performs a competitive complete moderating function in the association between PCK and MTA for in-service teachers. The statistics show that high PCK improves in-service teachers’ MTE while decreasing their MTA. Even though PCK predicts MTE, which predicts MTA in turn, further longitudinal and experimental investigations are required to fully comprehend this progression. MTE thus acts as a mediator in the connection between the PCK and MTA. Keywords: mathematics teaching anxiety, mathematics teaching efficacy, pedagogical content knowledge, mediation analysis via the process macro