There’s been considerable international research completed in relation to maths anxiety, more specifically with learners and pre-service teachers. This article shares ideas gained from completing a doctorate about maths anxiety and primary teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand, which relate to the histories, the impacts, and the influences of maths anxiety.
About the research
This doctoral research was grounded in interpretivism, which has the aim of understanding the world of human experience, along with Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory, with the belief that mental activity emerges from participation and social interaction with others. A qualitative/interpretive approach was utilised, ‘with the purpose of describing multiple realities, developing deep understanding and capturing everyday life and human perspectives’ (Trumbull & Watson, 2010, p.62).
Although there were three approaches utilised to locate participants, almost all teachers responded to Facebook posts in two teacher-related groups and my own page. Twelve primary teachers self-reported as experiencing maths anxiety and a semi-structured interview was completed with each, which enabled them to share their own experiences within their lived world with maths anxiety. Data gathered was thematically analysed, which involved exploration, reflection, categorisation, and description. Fundamental ethical considerations were central to the planning, implementation, and reporting of this research, including, but not limited to, anonymity. It is for this reason that all teachers have been referred to as her/she, as fewer males were participants in this research.
The histories
Maths anxiety, considered to be ‘a negative response specific to anticipation of or involvement with mathematics that interferes with performance’ (Whyte, 2022, p.20), was experienced by all 12 teachers when they themselves were students: five were primary students, six were secondary students, and one was a student at a tertiary provider. While parents were identified as having contributed to the beginnings of maths anxiety for only three participants, all were able to identify the teacher within their educational setting that activated their anxiety. It was shared that not only was it the way that mathematics was taught, but also the actions and interactions of teachers that contributed. Mathematics teaching that involved speed, teacher talk and chalk, memorising ways of working things out, and following the teacher’s way of solving problems, along with minimal interaction or explanation escalated anxiety. For my participants, anxiety was raised when teachers embarrassed, ridiculed, showed frustration, yelled, and utilised insensitive comments towards them; or were sarcastic, angry, stern, patronising, or stroppy. With these behaviours, participants were left feeling humiliated, frightened or a failure.
When anxiety levels were raised, the participants responded in a number of ways involving a mix of cognitive, affective, physiological, and/or neural responses. The exact mix and the degree to which these responses occurred also varied significantly between participants, although no participant had experience of only one of these response types, and three experienced all four response types. Specific responses included, but were not limited to, negative self-talk and momentary brain freeze; nervousness, a distrust in their ability, and a fear of looking stupid to others; changes to heart rate and breathing, as well as feeling nauseous, a flushed face, increased perspiration, and tears; along with the anticipation of being involved in something mathematical, including teaching mathematics.
Not only did the teachers interviewed self-report experiencing maths anxiety, but maths teaching anxiety was revealed during each interview. Similar to maths anxiety, maths teaching anxiety is considered ‘a negative response to anticipation of or involvement with, activity relating to mathematics teaching, or beliefs held in relation to perceived competence with teaching mathematics’ (Whyte, 2022, p.43). Maths teaching anxiety was experienced to varying degrees, and in different situations. For example, planning for mathematics teaching, professional development for mathematics teaching, and mathematics teaching itself, whether anticipation or involvement, increased anxiety.
With the variety of responses and situations for anxiety around mathematics, it was somewhat surprising that only half the teacher participants identified a management strategy for their anxiety as students. This ‘distract and avoid’ strategy involved clowning and chatting, dropping mathematics as a subject, or stepping away from mathematics for a period of time. As teachers, all participants developed strategies to manage their anxiety, and the range of management strategies was broader. While still including distract and avoid, the range of management strategies now also included finding trusted support within their school environment, being prepared for teaching with detailed planning, limiting the year level of teaching, and developing understanding of the mathematics to be taught. It is thought that in the role as teacher, the participants may have required a greater variety of management strategies, as the situations in which mathematics was discussed were more varied, and they now also held responsibility for teaching mathematics.
Professional role
With the mixture of maths anxiety and maths teaching anxiety, it was found that the professional roles of these teachers were impacted. Firstly, more than half the teachers in this study identified mathematical professional development as a context in which their experience of anxiety was heightened. As part of professional development activities, they feared being called on, felt very uncomfortable, were hesitant to contribute, and felt the dread of the expectation that mathematical ideas discussed and learned in the professional development sessions would need to be incorporated into classroom teaching. It was of concern that these teachers did not expect to gain from their attendance at professional development, though not surprising, as they were strongly focused on their anxious responses to the professional development, rather than on engagement in learning.
Second, a number of teacher participants attempted to preserve their professional role by keeping their experience of maths, and maths teaching anxiety, or their perceived weakness with mathematics hidden. They ensured that it didn’t show; and would fake a positive relationship with mathematics. While some kept it hidden, five found trusted support within their schools, mostly with a limited number of people, to maintain their professional role. These trusted support people checked planning ideas for pitfalls, were encouraging and supportive, were totally safe when holding knowledge of anxiety around mathematics and mathematics experiences, gave time to explain things, and never judged.
Lastly, while teachers had developed strategies to manage their anxiety, the strategies often showed care and concern for learners in a variety of ways. The teachers were aware of their own anxiety and many shared that they did not want their own learners to have a similar experience of mathematics learning, nor did they want them to develop an anxiety around mathematics, as they themselves had. They were also concerned that their teaching may negatively impact learner outcomes. Because of this potential impact, five participants eliminated responsibility for higher level mathematics teaching by either limiting their level of mathematics teaching or by shifting the responsibility for planning of mathematics teaching to another teacher.
Even though more than half the participants in this study found professional development an activity that heightened the anxiety they experienced, eight teachers demonstrated care for learners by developing a greater awareness of mathematics and its teaching so that their understanding and skills were improved. They undertook self-directed professional learning for mathematics teaching, much of which was of their own choosing and separate from the facilitated professional development that occurred for teachers.
Although identified as a strategy to manage anxiety, being prepared for mathematics teaching may also be considered as demonstrating mathematical care for their students. Many teachers talked of wanting to engage their learners with mathematical learning and to that end spent considerable time prior to teaching to develop their understanding of the mathematics to be taught and to be well planned. They did this so that they were in a position to understand learner thinking; be a step ahead of their learners; ensure teaching was powerful; and provide good solid teaching in maths. If unsure of mathematical concepts, or holding a belief that they might experience difficulty explaining them, these teachers were prepared with resources for their learners..
Teaching mathematics
Many teachers interviewed carried doubt about their ability to work mathematically and to teach mathematics effectively. Eleven presented as having low self-efficacy regarding mathematics, and all participants demonstrated low mathematics teacher efficacy. There was belief that they were useless at maths, judged themselves as not mathematically minded, or not maths people, and saw maths as their flaw. Participants were wary of working with high achieving students, were concerned they were incorrectly teaching students, and there was little, if any, enjoyment for teaching mathematics for many. There were fears of not explaining correctly, concern about teaching mathematics or teaching it the right way, or that they plainly disliked teaching mathematics. Rather than seeing mathematics as a challenge, these beliefs left many of the teacher participants feeling threatened by mathematics itself and its teaching. It must be difficult for these teachers to show enthusiasm for mathematics to their learners when feeling threatened by it.
To manage the doubt around mathematics and experiences, over half the teachers identified that they avoided teaching mathematics as much as possible. For example, one teacher deliberately timetabled mathematics for the time most likely to be interrupted by other things, as well as limiting the scheduled time for mathematics teaching and learning in the classroom. Others dropped mathematics when something was added to a day’s timetable, shortened the scheduled mathematics teaching time to extend learning areas that preceded or followed mathematics, removed mathematics from the timetable completely at times, or limited the areas of mathematics taught. For example, geometry may have been overlooked in teaching and, therefore, learning. These actions are in contrast to an Education Review Office (2018) report that emphasised the importance of mathematics teaching and learning occurring every school day and of teaching the full mathematics and statistics curriculum. Developing discussion with and between students requires mathematical risk-taking, though eight teachers in this study indicated uncertainty around developing this discussion, and all that it entails, in mathematics teaching and learning. They were aware that they sometimes had difficulty explaining things when working with students and believed that they were not as maths smart as some of their students. They also identified that they were uneasy with the possible thinking that students might share and, when a student shared their thinking, were sometimes confronted with the realisation that their own understanding of a mathematical concept was not as clear as they had originally thought. With anxiety being raised, some teachers were doubtful about their capacity to oversee the classroom environment when they were experiencing raised levels of anxiety. Despite their awareness that holding onto control limited opportunities for development of student agency during mathematics teaching and learning, they were hesitant to lessen their level of control.
Assisting with reducing maths anxiety and maths teaching anxiety
There are varying figures that indicate the occurrence of anxiety around mathematics for teachers, just as in the general population. In 1982 (Widmer & Chavez), it was reported that 16 per cent of 230 teachers in the United States experienced maths anxiety; McAnallen (2010) found that 33 per cent of almost 700 teachers in the United States identified as being maths anxious; in 2015, a research study by Adeyemi Adeyemi (2015) found that all 111 participants experienced some level of maths anxiety, with 64 per cent experiencing a moderate level and 19 per cent experiencing a high level. Gürbüz and Yıldırım (2016) also shared that all of the 559 participants in their study experienced some level of maths anxiety.
Considering the international information above, it is likely that there may be quite a number of primary teachers experiencing anxiety around mathematics in Aotearoa New Zealand. Consequently, it is crucial that we, the members of the education sector, begin to understand the experiences of teachers who have anxiety around mathematics, whether the mathematics itself or its teaching, and the impact and influence that this anxiety has on their professional role and their teaching of mathematics. Without an understanding of and for these teachers, it is unlikely that we will be in a position to assist in reducing the levels of anxiety that they experience, nor in reducing the chances of learners experiencing maths anxiety.
To this end, it would be useful if team and staff meetings included constructive and non-threatening discussion around positive and negative experiences of teaching mathematics, as well as successful and unsuccessful strategies that have been utilised in teaching practice. These discussions may lead to the provision of assistance in ways to address teacher anxiety around mathematics.
With this understanding and knowledge of maths anxiety, teachers will be in a more positive position to recognise this anxiety in themselves and that experienced by colleagues and learners, and assist in reducing anxiety for mathematics.
It is crucial that mathematical professional development opportunities provided for teachers not only involve the development of mathematical knowledge and teaching practices, but attend to the emotional aspects of teaching and learning also. When professional development involves learning around emotional aspects, it is likely that anxious teachers will engage more positively with professional development opportunities, since intellectual endeavours and emotional aspects cannot be separated. When emotional aspects are acknowledged, teachers with anxiety around mathematics will become less marginalised, and the mathematical ideas and concepts that are a part of professional development are likely to become more meaningful.
It is also important to recognise that anxiety around mathematics is not an individual issue or responsibility. It must also be owned by school personnel, professional development providers, and others. We know that a consequence of the anxiety teachers experience around mathematics may then impact the development of student interest in or disaffection towards mathematics. It is important to consider that the teacher–student relationship with mathematics may go some way to explaining the relatively poor international scores that New Zealand students are achieving.
The above were recommendations from my research study. However, it’s also important to hear the voices of teachers who were interviewed in this research study, as they provided ideas for assisting individuals who may experience anxiety around mathematics. These ideas included, though are not limited to:
- developing strong relationships so that individuals feel secure in sharing their anxiety;
- reducing judgemental tendencies, especially for those who may be hesitant to contribute to discussion or may take more time when responding;
- having empathy and patience;
- being aware that there may be people that may not appear anxious, though they are;
- being available to share and listen to questions;
- giving some time to support the development of mathematics understanding and its teaching.
Macy (pseudonym) also shared her thoughts about there being ‘a lot of off-the-cuff comments about maths and being bad at maths that [she] thinks perpetuate the anxiety . . . a lot of offhand comments made that can be quite negative towards that person who has spoken out, doing everything not to show it [anxiety], and trying to pick up as many clues and messages around teaching that they can.’ From Macy’s shared thoughts, it may be considered useful that these offhand or off-the-cuff comments are kept in check, especially during team and staff meetings, as well as professional learning and development activities – even during the snack and coffee or tea time.
Conclusion
In this article, you’ve read about the histories, impacts, and influences of maths anxiety and maths teaching anxiety of 12 primary teachers who self-reported as being maths anxious. You’ve had the opportunity to hear their voices and listen to their first-hand experience of these anxieties. We are all faced with challenges in our educational roles, and I am hopeful that you take up the challenge to consider the following questions, and act on your considerations where and when necessary.
- How anxious about mathematics and mathematics teaching are teachers within your staff team?
- How might you raise awareness of anxiety around mathematics within your school?
- What support might you provide to teachers who experience anxiety with mathematics and its teaching?
- How might you respond to a teacher who approaches you to share their anxiety around mathematics and its teaching?
References
Adeyemi, A. Y. (2015). Investigating and overcoming mathematics anxiety in in-service elementary school teachers University of Windsor]. Windsor, Canada.
Education Review Office. (2018). Keeping children engaged in mathematics: Teaching approaches and strategies that work.
Gürbüz, R., & Yıldırım, K. (2016). An investigation of mathematics anxiety of primary school teachers [article]. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education, 7(3), 536–552.
McAnallen, R. R. (2010). Examining mathematics anxiety in elementary classroom teachers University of Connecticut]. Storrs, Connecticut.
Trumbull, M., & Watson, K. (2010). Qualitative research methods. In G. R. Taylor (Ed.), Integrating quantitative and qualitative methods in research (3rd ed., pp.62–78). University Press of America.
Whyte, J. M. (2022). Mathematics anxiety and primary school teachers: The histories, impacts, and influences [Doctoral thesis, Massey University]. Massey Research Online.
Widmer, C. C., & Chavez, A. (1982, Spring82). Math anxiety and elementary school teachers [Article]. Education, 102(3), 272.