Pre-service Teachers' Confidence in solving Numeracy Tasks

Abstract

In Ireland, teachers are required to teach numeracy across all subject disciplines. Therefore, Initial Teacher Education [ITE] standards require all teachers to possess an adequate level of numeracy themselves and profess positive dispositions towards teaching numeracy across the curriculum. This paper reports on a study that investigated 204 pre-service post-primary teachers' confidence in completing numeracy tasks. Analysis of questionnaire data from participants in three universities showed that pre-service teachers in the STEM disciplines are more confident in their ability to complete the numeracy tasks correctly than pre-service teachers in other disciplines. This is an issue of concern. If pre-service teachers of all disciplines are to teach for numeracy learning within their lessons, regardless of their subject discipline, then pre-service teachers of all disciplines will need to have an adequate level of numeracy themselves, along with confidence to support numeracy development within their specific subject discipline.