How Do Secondary School Maths Teachers Feel When They Teach?

Resumo

Among the most influential affective constructs on maths teacher professional competence is mathematics teaching anxiety. Indeed, a teacher's mathematics teaching anxiety can condition students' learning. The aim of this research is to analyse the mathematics teaching anxiety levels of a group of secondary mathematics teachers both generally and according to employment status (pre-service or in-service teachers), academic background, and years of experience teaching. The study participants were 75 secondary school maths teachers who completed the Mathematics Teaching Anxiety Scale, a 23-item Likert-type questionnaire on mathematics teaching anxiety. The results revealed that secondary mathematics teachers presented mathematics teaching anxiety. In addition, no significant mathematics teaching anxiety differences were found between secondary school pre-service and in-service mathematics teachers. There were, however, significant differences depending on their academic background. In addition, novice teachers felt less capable of handling the mathematical contents to be taught than those with more teaching experience. It is thus necessary to take these types of results into account and to incorporate specific actions to reverse this situation, both in initial and in continuous training plans.