Process over product: associations among math anxiety, feelings about math, and instructional beliefs in early childhood preservice teachers

Providing high-quality mathematics instruction is vital for children because early mathematics skills are a strong predictor of later academic success. Unfortunately, not all early childhood preservice teachers (PSTs) have positive attitudes toward mathematics and, as a group, report one of the highest levels of mathematics anxiety (Bates, A. B., Latham, N. I., and Kim, J. A. (2013). Do I have to teach math? Early childhood preservice teachers' fears of teaching mathematics. Issues in the Undergraduate Mathematics Preparation of School Teachers, 5. www.k-12prep.mathematics.ttu.edu; Beilock, S. L., and Maloney, E. A. (2015). Math anxiety: A factor in math achievement not to be ignored. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2(1), 4–12. 10.1177/2372732215601438). Nonetheless, very few studies have looked at early childhood mathematics teachers as a group with specific knowledge, skills, and beliefs (Parks and Wager, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education 36:124–141, 2015). This study investigated associations among teacher characteristics (e.g., age, educational level), mathematics anxiety, beliefs, pedagogy, and attitudes toward mathematics. Significant differences were found in teachers’ mathematics anxiety by PSTs’ age but not level of education. The level of education was able to predict PSTs reform-based beliefs and positive attitudes toward mathematics. In light of these findings, it is essential to support both positive attitudes and inquiry-based instructional methods in PSTs to encourage the development of teachers who are confident and competent in teaching mathematics (Lake & Kelly, Lake and Kelly, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education 35:262–275, 2014).