Preservice preschool teachers’ mathematics experience and math anxiety on their beliefs about and attitudes toward teaching mathematics

ABSTRACT Only a limited number of research has examined preservice preschool teachers’ attitudes toward and beliefs about teaching mathematics, likely because there are no instruments aimed at preschool settings that have appropriately established psychometric properties. In the current study, we addressed this deficit and aimed to adapt the Preschool Teacher Attitudes and Beliefs toward Science (P-TABS) instrument in a sample of 164 Greek preservice preschool teachers and test its validity and reliability. Using a version of the P-TABS that had been adapted to mathematics, we investigated participants’ beliefs about and attitudes toward teaching mathematics and the impact of their previous experiences with mathematics, as well as their math anxiety, on their beliefs about and attitudes toward mathematics teaching. The results showed that this adapted version of the P-TABS was valid and reliable, and therefore it can be useful in the assessment of preservice preschool teachers’ beliefs about and attitudes toward teaching mathematics. The results also showed that teachers’ math anxiety and their previous experience with mathematics explained their beliefs about and attitudes toward teaching mathematics. This suggests that introducing courses on mathematics into teacher education programs could have a positive effect on preservice teachers’ beliefs about teaching mathematics.