Demystifying Math Anxiety: Exploring Teacher Perceptions of Math Anxiety on the Teaching-Learning Process

This study focuses on teacher perception of math anxiety on the teaching-learning process. How do teachers perceive math anxiety and its effects on their students? How do teachers perceive math anxiety and its effects on themselves? The purpose of this study is to "demystify" math anxiety by exploring how in-practice teachers perceive this issue so we can better understand math anxiety and improve math education for our students. In particular, this study honed in on what strategies teachers have used in their experience with teaching math to students with math anxiety to provide practical takeaways for pre-service teachers. The participants were two primary-junior teachers in the Greater Toronto Area who have taught for at least 10 years and have taught math among other subjects. The findings suggest teachers perceive math anxiety to negatively impact student leaning and teacher efficacy. In addition, the data also suggest there to be a direct correlation between teacher experience and background and teacher perception of math anxiety. The strategies mentioned in this study to help alleviate student math anxiety revolved around having a caring, encouraging teacher at the centre with technology being credited for helping generate engagement and interest. Both the literature and findings appear to indicate a significant link between a teacher's own experience with mathematics and their perceptions, hence, this study concludes with recommendations to the educational community to provide more resources for teacher preparation for teaching mathematics in order to improve teacher comfort levels and as a result, teacher efficacy and the overall quality of math education for our students