A study of students’ attitudes and mathematics teachers’ self- efficacy in teaching and their relationships on students’ achievement in Dadieso senior high school

Abstract

The study examined students‟ attitudes and mathematics teacher self- efficacy in teaching and their relationships on students‟ achievement in Dadieso Senior High School. Correlational design was employed in the study. Purposive and Stratified Random Sampling techniques were used to sample 225 respondents made up of 7 Form three (F3) mathematics teachers (6 males, 1 female) and 218 Form three (F3) students (123 male, 95 female). Attitude towards Mathematics Inventory was used to collect data on students‟ attitudes whereas data on their achievement was obtained through an Achievement Test. Teacher self- Efficacy Scale was used to collect data teacher‟s efficacy in teaching mathematics. Frequencies, percentages, Pearson‟s product-moment correlation and independent samples t- test were used for data analyses. The study revealed that most respondents had positive attitude towards mathematics in terms of its value and their confidence but also indicated anxiety towards learning mathematics. A significant positive medium correlation between students‟ attitudes and their mathematics achievement was established. The study also revealed significant small positive relationship between teacher self-efficacy and students mathematics achievement. Significant gender differences were specified on mathematics achievement. Male students performed better than female students in Mathematics with medium effect size. Recommendations were made to enhance students‟ positive attitudes and build higher level efficacy beliefs of teachers during in-service training.