A Research on Teachers’ Beliefs about Mathematics Teaching and Learning between Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK), Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) and Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT)

Abstract

The level of basic numeracy achievement in Malaysian education system is a growing concern to key stakeholders. Apart from monitoring numeracy standards, no attempt has been made to explore what are the beliefs of Malaysian primary school teachers’ beliefs towards mathematics teaching and learning. It is important to understand teacher beliefs since ultimately these beliefs lead to student achievement in mathematics. Thus, this research examined the beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning held by Malaysian primary school (SK, SJKC and SJKT) teachers. A quantitative approach with a survey design was used. A total of 174 primary mathematics teachers from South Seberang Perai district of Penang participated in this research. A survey instrument with 18 items (Mathematics Beliefs Scales) was adapted from Capraro, (2005) and Fennema et al., (1990) and administered to the SK, SJKC and SJKT teachers in order to determine their beliefs regarding mathematics teaching and learning on three subscales, namely beliefs about student learning, beliefs about the stages of learning and beliefs about the teaching practices. Teachers’ responses derived from participation in the survey were analyzed for formal and informal mathematics beliefs. Descriptive statistics were calculated to explore the beliefs of SK, SJKC and SJKT mathematics teachers. Results indicated that most of the teachers expressed beliefs that tended to fall in the mid-range between formal and informal mathematics beliefs. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted and statistically significant differences were found in the mean scores of the three subscales of the Mathematics Beliefs Scales between SK, SJKC and SJKT mathematics teachers. The SJKC teachers were found to favour more informal beliefs in teaching and learning mathematics than their counterparts from SK and SJKT. Conclusions suggest as the most of primary mathematics teachers, especially from SK and SJKT have a mixture of both formal and informal beliefs, professional development must address their fundamental beliefs about mathematics so that they would adopt informal beliefs to enhance their mathematics teaching and learning.

Keywords: Beliefs, beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning, formal beliefs, informal beliefs, student learning, stages of learning, teacher practices.