Preservice Teachers’ Wellbeing in Mathematics Education

Abstract

The study investigated first-year preservice teachers’ affective, conative, cognitive, social, and physical wellbeing in a mathematics education subject at a regional university in Far North Queensland. Data collected included pre and post surveys with forty-nine preservice teachers, and interviews with preservice teachers and teacher educators. The pre and post surveys evaluated preservice teachers’ belief statements about their wellbeing before and after a six-week module. Before the module, their belief statements suggested significant challenges. The post survey suggested an increased confidence with mathematics. Four themes that emerged from interview data analysis included the need to: address the emerging unbalanced wellbeing; address overlapping challenges for both preservice teachers and educators that negatively affect learning; understand that lack of challenges is detrimental to wellbeing balance; and develop guiding frameworks to address the emerging challenges. The paper discusses possible implications to the practice of teaching and learning in mathematics education and other subject areas.