The Relationship between Teacher Related Factors and Mathematics Teachers’ Educational Beliefs about Mathematics

This study investigates the extent to which: (a) mathematics teachers' educational beliefs about mathematics change upon participation in professional development, and (b) teachers' educational background and teaching experience in mathematics contribute to their educational beliefs and to the change in these beliefs. Results showed that teachers significantly improved their educational beliefs about mathematics after professional development. Multiple regression analyses revealed that mathematics teaching experience predicted self-efficacy in teaching mathematics at program onset whereas mathematics college hours predicted the change in self-efficacy in teaching mathematics. The paper discusses the implication of findings for preparation and professional development of mathematics teachers. At a time when certain measures of teacher quality are reduced to the growth of their students' learning, it is critical not to discount the educational beliefs associated with effective teaching. Several types of educational beliefs held by teachers have been identified as adaptive and associated with student success (e. however, little research has investigated the antecedents of these beliefs among practicing mathematics teachers research examining the extent to which professional development (PD) can promote these educational beliefs is scant. PD of teachers has been identified as one of the key factors of improving public education (Borko, 2004). Studies show that PD programs for teachers can improve not only teachers' knowledge and skills but also their beliefs, attitudes, and instructional practices with consideration of contextual factors such as school leadership and policy, curriculum, and characteristics of teachers and students (Desimone, 2009). The focus of this paper was to examine antecedents of teachers' self-efficacy, internal locus of control, and epistemic beliefs. Teachers' self-efficacy may be defined as the extent to which teachers believe they can successfully execute teaching-related tasks within a particular context (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). Initial work attempting to conceptualize and operationalize teachers' self-efficacy beliefs stemmed from a theory of locus of control (Rotter, 1966). Measures informed by this theory assessed how much control teachers felt they had over student outcomes regardless of external circumstances (e.g. The relationship between teacher related factors and mathematics teachers' educational beliefs about mathematics. Smith, & Huinker, 2000). However, subsequent instruments developed to assess teachers' self-efficacy were more aligned with Bandura's (1986) definition of self-efficacy within a social-cognitive framework (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). Thus, education researchers proposed that like other social-cognitive types of self-efficacy, teachers' self-efficacy is influenced by personal mastery experiences, vicarious experiences (observation of models), social persuasion, and physiological indicators (Schunk, Pintrich, & …