How teachers’ own math anxiety can affect their students

Plenty of students have math anxiety. It turns out some educators have their own anxiety about teaching the subject, a new study finds. And that appears to affect their students — especially those already struggling in the subject.

The recently published paper draws on an unusually detailed survey of teachers in Indiana. They were asked how much they agreed with statements like “Teaching mathematics does not intimidate me at all” and “Of all the subjects, mathematics is the one I worry about teaching.” 

Based on those answers, the researchers created a “math teaching anxiety” score for over 3,000 educators who taught math in grades three through eight. Those grades are when state testing occurs, allowing the researchers to link teachers to their students’ progress.

The good news: Math anxiety was not all that prevalent among elementary and middle school teachers in Indiana. Just over half were highly confident teaching the subject, and nearly 40% reported middling confidence. That left 11% of teachers with significant apprehension about teaching math.

New teachers were especially likely to lack confidence, perhaps reflecting broader struggles in the classroom, the researchers found. Early-grade educators also tended to have a bit less assurance in math. This makes sense since the study included middle school teachers, many of whom specialize in the subject.

Math-anxious teachers were not evenly spread across classrooms. Students with disabilities, low-achieving students, and students from lower-income families were more likely to have such teachers. It’s also possible that teachers became less confident in their ability because they taught more students who struggled in math.

Then the researchers asked the next obvious question: Do students learn less when they’re taught by anxious math teachers? In short, yes.

The differences in learning rates were real but modest. An average student’s scores dipped by about one percentile when taught by a less confident math teacher, the researchers found. The harm could grow if students had multiple anxious math teachers in a row, the study speculated. Girls, Asian American students, and English learners seemed to be affected a bit more severely by having an anxious math teacher.

The study paints a particularly troubling picture of math instruction for students already struggling in the subject. They were more likely to have an anxious teacher, and when they did, their learning suffered more. In other words, the students who needed the most help in math were often taught by teachers least equipped to provide it.

NaYoung Hwang, the study’s lead author and a professor at the University of New Hampshire, said there are a number of potential explanations for the results. Math-anxious teachers may have spent less time on the subject, explained math concepts less clearly, or even made their own math errors. Perhaps their own ambivalence and anxiety came through. 

“When teachers are genuinely excited about the content, students tend to engage much more,” Hwang said.

The study partially validates the long-standing concern that elementary school teachers, at least some of them, are not sufficiently equipped to teach math. A National Council on Teacher Quality report concluded that most elementary teacher preparation programs don’t spend enough time on core math content.

The study also offers an insight relevant beyond math instruction.

Teachers who lacked confidence teaching math had correctly self-diagnosed their own weakness. School administrators should keep that in mind when planning professional development and support for educators. Perhaps they should start by asking teachers themselves what they need to get better.

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