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Characteristics of High Enjoyment Teachers of Mathematics in Primary Schools
- Source :
-
Mathematics Education Research Journal . Mar 2023 35(1):1-21. - Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- Despite teacher enjoyment of teaching being associated with a range of benefits for teachers and their students, little research exploring the characteristics of teachers who enjoy teaching mathematics exists. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten teachers who scored in the top third in terms of their enjoyment of teaching mathematics from a sample of 118 generalist, early-year primary school teachers. Thematic analysis of interview data revealed that negative-to-positive turning point experiences were commonplace amongst high-enjoyment primary teachers, but so too were reports of consistently positive feelings towards mathematics throughout their entire lives. While most articulated a passion for teaching mathematics, all teachers considered instances when students experienced 'light bulb' moments in their mathematical understanding that made a mathematics lesson enjoyable to teach. An important implication of our research is that one need not be a 'maths person' to come to love teaching mathematics. Rather, positive experiences in one's pre-service teacher education, or in-service teacher professional learning, have the potential to transform one's attitude towards teaching mathematics.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1033-2170 and 2211-050X
- Volume :
- 35
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- ERIC
- Journal :
- Mathematics Education Research Journal
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- EJ1364801
- Document Type :
- Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-021-00372-z