Factors that Affect Primary School Teachers' Anxiety in Teaching Mathematics in Western Belize

Abstract

This quantitative study investigated teachers’ anxiety levels in teaching mathematics, the relationship, and prediction effect of variables such as teaching experience, educational attainment, and teacher self-efficacy. A Google survey was completed by primary school teachers in the Cayo District and data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and a multiple linear regression statistical test. Results revealed that teachers’ anxiety level in teaching mathematics was at the medium level. The variables indicated a strong significant relationship to teachers’ anxiety in teaching mathematics. General math anxiety and its social/evaluative subcategory resulted as positive predictors, while efficacy in instructional strategies resulted as a negative predictor of teachers’ anxiety in teaching mathematics. When teachers’ general math anxiety increased, their anxiety in teaching mathematics also increased; if their anxiety levels increased when being evaluated, their anxiety in teaching mathematics also increased. The findings support investments to increase teachers’ efficacy in instructional strategies, therefore, decreasing teachers’ anxiety in teaching mathematics.