Teachers’ Behaviours Towards Vital Interactions that Attract Students’ Interest to Learn Mathematics and Career Development

Abstract

It is natural for students to expect appropriate behaviours from their teachers. Not only students but also every human being appreciates care from surrounding individuals. Within the classroom, students can feel less motivated to take part in the learning of the given course with the teacher who has offensive behaviours. The purpose of this study was to explore students’ reflections about what they consider to be appreciable behaviors of mathematics teachers, for students to be motivated to learn. The study also intended to find out whether there is a link between teachers' behaviours and students' career development.  A total number of 53 students comprised of 16 primary pupils, 26 secondary students, and 11 graduate students participated in this study. Purposive, inconvenient, and systematic sampling methods were used to collect data. The findings showed that teachers’ behaviours can influence learners’ interest to learn mathematics. However, the study showed that there is no link between mathematics teachers' behaviours and learners' career development. Therefore, teachers are advised to be approachable, responsive, and behave in a way that motivates students to learn mathematics.