Preliminary Investigations of Pre-Service Teacher Numeracy

It is essential that pre-service teacher educators address pre-service teacher numeracy but with careful consideration as it incorporates more than mathematics skills. Numeracy also involves disposition towards mathematics--attitudes, confidence and mathematics anxiety; that is, the level of willingness to use mathematics skills. As part of an emphasis on developing pre-service teacher numeracy, a new first year unit was introduced. Pre-service teachers were given tools to investigate their competence, attitudes towards, confidence with, and anxiety regarding mathematics. This paper outlines the changes that were identified in the numeracy of these pre-service teachers at the completion of the unit.