Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Belief and Attitude of Pre-service Teachers and Academic Achievement

Abstract

Given the importance of the beliefs and attitudes of the pre-service teachers, this research aims at studying the relation between mathematics teaching efficacy beliefs of pre-service teachers, their attitude towards mathematics and their mathematics academic achievement. Specifically, this work considers both factors together and studies their correlation with mathematics academic achievement. The Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (MTEBI) is used to measure the teachers’ efficacy beliefs of pre-service teachers. Besides, the Attitude towards Mathematics Scale (AMS) is used to rate students’ attitude towards mathematics. Participants are 57 pre-service teachers of the third year of the primary education degree. Students of third years of the bachelor’s degree were invited to answer the MTEBI and AMS. Obtained results reaffirm that both teachers’ efficacy beliefs and attitude towards mathematics are key factors for pre-service teacher’s mathematics academic achievement. Moreover, the two factors correlate moderately with one another. Furthermore, results manifest that Personal Mathematics Teaching Efficacy (PMTE) is the most determining subscale for academic achievement. It is evidenced the importance of strengthening both the pre-service teachers’ efficacy beliefs and the attitude towards mathematics.