Pre-Service Teachers’ Belief About the Efficacy of Their Mathematics Teaching: A Case Study

Jaime Segarra,Carme Julià,Cristina Valls

doi:10.30935/scimath/11236

Abstract

This paper studies the pre-service teachers’ mathematics teaching self-efficacy throughout the bachelor’s degree in Primary Education. Our hypothesis is that the mathematical courses included in the bachelor’s degree can influence their mathematics teaching self-efficacy. To carry out the study, pre-service teachers of each year of the Primary Education Degree answer the Mathematics Teaching Eﬃcacy Belief Instrument (MTEBI) at the end of the 2016-17 academic year. The MTEBI is comprised of two sub-scales, namely, Personal Mathematics Teaching Eﬃcacy (PMTE) and Mathematics Teaching Outcome Expectancy (MTOE). Obtained results evidence a statistically signiﬁcant diﬀerence (in positive) between the pre-teachers of the ﬁrst and the last year of the bachelor’s degree in the PMTE subscale. Therefore, these results show that the three teaching and learning mathematics courses (TLM) included in the bachelor’s degree do change the students’ PMTE. Concretely, the second TLM course, which is connected to a student teaching practice period, really makes the diﬀerence. Scores obtained in the MTOE subscale, on the contrary, do not increase throughout the Degree. To sum up, this study shows that the Mathematical Curriculum of the bachelor’s degree can influence on the PMTE of the pre-teachers. Therefore, teacher educators should be aware of the importance of the Mathematical Curriculum and design the teaching and learning mathematics courses in order to promote the PMTE of the pre-teachers.

Highlights

Today, there is a widespread opinion of the importance of teacher training to achieve success in primary education
The Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (MTEBI) is comprised of two sub-scales, namely, Personal Mathematics Teaching Efficacy (PMTE) and Mathematics Teaching Outcome Expectancy (MTOE)
This paper aims at studying the personal mathematics teaching efficacy (PMTE) and the mathematics teaching outcome expectancy (MTOE) of pre-service teachers along the bachelor’s degree in Primary Education

Summary

Introduction

There is a widespread opinion of the importance of teacher training to achieve success in primary education. According to Ball, Hill, and Bass (2005), and Ball, Thames, and Phelps (2008), the quality of mathematics teaching depends on teachers’ knowledge of the content. They focused their work on determining what teachers need to know about mathematics to be successful with students in classrooms. Other researches are worried about the lack of motivation and confidence of pre-service teachers when they teach and learn mathematics (e.g., Gil, Ahstoh, & Algina, 2004; Giles, Byrd, & Bendolph, 2016; Moses et al, 2017; Swars, Daane, & Gisen, 2006; Wilkins & Brand, 2004). The problem is that if they do not change their beliefs, they will show them when teaching mathematics at Primary school. Bursal (2010) points out that teachers are the most important single influence on students’ attitudes toward

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