Pre-Service Primary School Teachers' Motivation for Learning Mathematics

Abstract

The aim of the study was to explore pre-service primary school teachers' motivational beliefs about mathematics in the light of the expectancy-value theory. We wanted to find out to what extent the motivational beliefs of pre-service teachers are related to their previous experiences in mathematics and to their engagement in learning mathematics and mathematics anxiety. The participants were 237 pre-service primary school teachers in their first year of study. They completed a mathematics exam and a questionnaire on their motivational beliefs (self-efficacy and subjective value), previous experiences in mathematics (level of high school math program, mathematics competencies, epistemic beliefs and achievement goals during high school), engagement and mathematics anxiety. The results of hierarchical regression analyses show that previous experiences with mathematics are important predictors of self-efficacy and subjective value. Furthermore, motivational beliefs are significant predictors of the pre-service teachers' engagement in learning mathematics and mathematics anxiety, along with their previous experiences with mathematics. The results are in line with the expectancy- -value theory and indicate that it is important to foster the development of adaptive beliefs about mathematics during the initial education of pre-service teachers.