Dr. Edward R. San Agustin Dr. David Cababaro Bueno

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Attributes of Teachers and Attitudes of Junior High School Students towards Mathematics Dr. Edward R. San Agustin Dr. David Cababaro Bueno

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Abstract- The study focused on the perceived traits of Mathematics

Teachers and its impact on Grade 7 students’ attitudes towards Mathematics. The researchers utilized the descriptive method of research using a modified standardized questionnaire as the main instrument in data gathering. There were sixty-nine (69) Mathematics teachers and seven hundred eighty-eight (788) Grade 7 students purposively selected from public high schools in the Division of Olongapo City involved as respondents of the study. The data were statically treated using the Percentage, Mean and Pearson product Moment Correlation. Majority of the Mathematics teachers were newly hired, but some have been in the service for over 29 years now. Dominantly were Teacher I, bachelor’s degree holder and some were pursuing graduate studies in the area of specialization; and attended division level and international level seminars.

There were still other teachers who have not attended any Mathematicsrelated seminars for the past 3 years. High positive traits of Mathematics teachers were remarkably evident relative to teacher as a person, classroom management and organization, organizing and orienting for instruction, implementing instruction, monitoring students’ progress and potentials, and teachers’ professionalism. The students have moderately high confidence and anxiety levels, and value towards Mathematics.

However, they highly enjoyed the subject and motivated to study. Moreover, they have relatively high (positive) regards to their teachers. There was a significant relationship between teachers’ traits and students’ attitudes towards Mathematics. Teachers’ traits significantly influenced students’ confidence, anxiety, value for Mathematics, enjoyment, motivation to learn; and attitude towards teacher.

Keywords: Mathemtics, attributes, attitudes, descriptive study

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Introduction Mathematics now dominates almost every field of one’s activities. In this age of science and Technology, it has permeated through the human life in such a way that, it has now become every man’s everyday concern. Mathematics disciplines the mind, systematizes student’s thought and reasoning. The subject has also rich potentialities of affording true enjoyment to its students.

Mathematics is an important subject in school curriculum.

It is more closely related to student’s daily life as compared to other subjects. Except student’s mother tongue there is no other subject which is more closely related to student’s daily life as mathematics. Mathematics is considered to be the father of all sciences. Napoleon remarked that- “The progress and improvement of mathematics is linked to the prosperity of the state”. Although there is no standard definition of the term attitude, in general it refers to a learned predisposition or tendency on the part of an individual to respond positively or negatively to some object, situation, concept or another person.

In assessing potential of students and attitudes towards Mathematics and Mathematics learning are frequently cited as factors contributing to success. Several studies have shown that positive attitudes are conductive to good performance.

However, an individual’s attitude towards Mathematics can be influenced by many factors. It is generally held that females exhibit less positive attitudes towards mathematics than males do.

The foundation of success, regardless of our chosen field, is attitude.

Teachers are the most important resource for developing students‘mathematical identities. They influence the ways in which student‘s think of themselves in the classroom. In establishing equitable arrangements, effective teachers pay attention to the different needs that result from different home environments, different languages, and different capabilities and perspectives. The positive attitude that develops raises 2

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students‘comfort level, enlarges their knowledge base, and gives them greater confidence in their capacity to learn and make sense of mathematics. Confident in their own understandings, students will be more willing to consider new ideas presented by the teacher, to consider other students’ ideas and assess the validity of other approaches, and to persevere in the face of mathematical challenge.

Improvement in basic education, according to the Department of Education is seen for the past 3 years. It is based on the National Achievement Test Results and the participation and cohort survival rates of public school students. The performance of the Division of Olongapo in National Achievement Test in terms of Mathematics is also gradually improving as reflected on the national achievement. With the Mean Percentage Scores for the past 3 years, 34.89 in 2011, 37.62 in 2012 and 40.75 in 2013. But it is beyond the 75 percent which is goal set by the Department.

Thus efforts were continuously done in order to achieve the goals of quality education, from changing the curriculum and up to involving every stakeholder in the school.

Teachers as a source of knowledge and experience are being considered and responsible to whatever the outcomes of the students will be. It is their performance and management of the classroom that matters most. But to the addition of the characters of teachers, according to Addeyemo (2005) writing teacher characteristics influenced teaching and learning in classrooms.

Teachers are no more the people who come to the class, give lectures and walk out. An ideal teacher is someone who seeks the participation of all the students, takes student's opinions into account, uses different teaching media and makes learning a fun activity. As someone rightly said, a good teacher teaches from the heart and not from the book. So, to take up a job as a teacher one must have passion for the subject he is teaching so that he can pass the same passion to his students. One of the important roles of a teacher is also that of respecting a student's opinion. A teacher must always be open to learn new things and he must keep himself 3

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updated with the latest developments in his subject (Dhavale, 2010).

The relevance of teachers’ characteristics on the realization of educational goals and objectives cannot be overemphasized.

Their characteristics are those behaviors that they exhibited towards attainment of goals. These characteristics are the combination of peculiar qualities, traits, mental or moral nature/strength and status that make one person or group different from another. Successful teachers’ characteristics are those that have been found by empirical researches to be related to improved achievement by students in the cognitive, affective or psychomotor outcomes of education (Offorma, 1994).

Numerous studies have found that there is a connection between teachers’ attitudes and their students’ attitudes (Anderson, 2007; Ma & Xu, 2004; Relich, 1996). For instance, Relich (1996) found that teachers who had been identified as having low self-confidence in mathematics attributed this feeling to negative experiences in school mathematics, even when they had had a positive attitude towards mathematics previously. Also found in this study was that these teachers had low expectations of their own students, thus perpetuating their attitudes and beliefs about mathematics. The counterpoint belief was found as well, as teachers who had been identified as having high self-confidence in mathematics, attributed their success and enjoyment of mathematics to a previous teacher or teachers who had had a positive effect on them. As a consequence, these teachers tended to believe that anyone could do mathematics successfully and therefore had higher, more positive expectations of their students.

Anderson’s (2007) research found that “The most significant potential to influence students’ identities exists in the mathematics classroom”. When students, especially younger ones, are encouraged by teachers and find success in mathematics, their attitudes and beliefs can drastically improve (Ma & Xu, 2004).

Similarly, Midgely, Feldlaufer, and Eccles (1989) found that mathematics teachers’ beliefs in their efficacy to teach 4

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mathematics had an effect on their students. A significant relationship between teacher efficacy and students’ confidence and beliefs in their ability to do mathematics was found.

Specifically, students in the classes of teachers with a positive sense of efficacy in teaching were more likely to believe that they were performing better in mathematics than students in the class of teachers with a lower sense of efficacy in teaching mathematics.

In addition, students of teachers with high efficacy believed mathematics to be less difficult than students of lower efficacy teachers. Overall, teachers’ attitudes had a stronger relationship to the beliefs in mathematics of low-achieving students than to the beliefs in mathematics of high-achieving students.

Groton (1983) rightly pointed out that if a person is to be successful in his chosen career, that individual also needs a set of ethical beliefs or standards for guidance or direction in the appropriate use of competences. A competent teacher seeks to know his learners’ behavior in teaching, must perceive the individual learner as a whole since he has affective, cognitive and psychomotor talents.

Furthermore, students’ participation in class is critical, where their perception towards the subject requires methods that a teacher can use to stimulate learning in the classroom. The knowledge of how the student think, capacity and perceive can aid the teacher to reflect upon and adjust his/her strategies and methods to enhance student’s understanding and achievement.

The conceptions, attitudes, and expectations of the students regarding mathematics and mathematics teaching have been considered to be very significant factor underlying their school experience and achievement (Borasi, 1990; Shoenfeld, 1985).

Why do students have such a drastic change in their attitudes toward mathematics? One possible explanation is that as students grow, they become more aware of their instructors’ interest and enthusiasm for teaching mathematics. They will be less motivated to learn if they feel that their instructor is not happy teaching and does not enjoy being with them in the classroom 5

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(Jackson & Leffingwell, 1999). Instructors who care about students must realize that making a positive environment in which to teach and learn mathematics may reduce performance anxiety and encourage enjoyment in mathematics (Furner & Berman, 2003).

Therefore, students’ perception of their teacher’s characteristics could affect or influence their attitude towards their subjects.

Students more often than not judge their teachers in such areas as the teachers’ knowledge of the subject matter, communication ability, the choice of appropriate teaching method and the general classroom management skills.

A teacher who is rated high on these indices in the perception of the students is likely to enjoy the confidence, respect and admiration of his students.

As to the factors contributing negative attitude of students in mathematics, Hannula (2002) stated that students who will express like or dislike of mathematics have experiences that have controlled their emotions, expectations, and values with regard to the subject. There are several factors that affect student attitudes or beliefs about themselves as learners. Previous experiences in mathematics courses influence their actions. Confidence in their ability to learn mathematics, their belief about the usefulness of mathematics, and their feelings about being able to ‘discover’ mathematics all influence student actions (Koehler & Grouws, 1992).

Research indicates that teacher preparation/knowledge of teaching and learning, subject matter knowledge, experience, and the combined set of qualifications measured by teacher licensure are all leading factors in teacher effectiveness (Darling-Hammond, 2006). Fennema and Frank (1992) agreed that teacher’s knowledge of the subject matter is an indicator of teachers’ teaching effectiveness. Eggen and Kauchak (2011) sub-divided teachers’ knowledge of subject matter into: knowledge of content, pedagogical content knowledge and general pedagogical knowledge. Ball and Bass (2000) had earlier explained that knowledge of mathematics itself (knowledge of subject matter) 6

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should go further than the specific content of the discipline to the knowledge of how to teach, present mathematical concepts and that of selection and use of instructional media and resources.

Muijs and Reynolds (2002) posited that teaching effectiveness of the teacher is hampered if he/she is not versed in the contents to be taught. A teacher who has a deep understanding of the concept to be taught is more likely to use unambiguous language; his/her presentation is likely to be more coherent and he/she would offer clearer explanation than those with a weaker background, (Uya, 2011). Huckstep, Rowland, and Thwaites (2003) in their finding on importance of mathematics teachers’ knowledge of subject contents, affirm that effective teaching that can lead to better achievement by the students and provide a positive attitude depends on teachers’ confidence and in-depth knowledge of the subject matter.

Every subject matter needs to be communicated well for students to learn and be more active to participate because they can understand and comprehend what has been taught and what their trying to point out. Communication may be used to mean the transfer, transmission or exchange of ideas, knowledge, beliefs, attitudes or emotion from one person or group of persons to another (Esu, 2004). Ajibade and Ehindero (2012) opined that if there is any act germane to effective teaching it is that of communicating. Teachers should strive to make their presentation as unambiguous, coherent and logical as possible. Eggen and Kauchak (2011) underlined the basic aspects of effective communication to include precise terminology, connected discourse, transition signals and emphasis. Afangideh (2011) reported that the purpose of communication in the teachinglearning process is to effect change, to produce a desired response; or to influence action contributing to the welfare of the school system. Afangideh (2011) further highlighted four dimensional objectives of communication as: to inform, to stimulate, to persuade and to remind. Uya (2011) asserted that the effectiveness of any educational system depends to a large extent on the 7

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effectiveness of the communication system being adopted. And that the teacher has the capability to change the attitude of another person if there is trustworthiness, belief and validity of what he says. To a large extent the effectiveness of any classroom interaction is determined by the competency of the teacher to initiate and sustain communication between and among his/her students.

The use of appropriate teaching method on students with diverse learning pattern will be strength of a teacher to deliver his/her lesson and with a high percentage on the retention. Tayo (2007), described methods as patterns to be followed in teaching/learning process to drive home a point. Whether in formal or informal education, teaching method effectiveness makes for retention of learnt concepts. The extent to which an instructional procedure is potent depends greatly upon its effective use by the instructor and the impression it leaves on the learner, which is usually evident in their attitude as well as performance. Umoren (2011) in a research on methods of teaching suggested that the ability of the teacher to impart knowledge so depends greatly on the method he applies during the teaching learning process. Where the method is defective, the students stand to lose as they hardly benefit from lessons. According to Uya (2011), for teacher to be able to ensure order and enhance classroom learning, they have to possess necessary pedagogical skills which have to be systematic and methodical. They have to explore and make good use of their knowledge of instructional skills/strategies, whether the method adopted falls within the spectrum of mass or individualized instructional methods (Umoh, 2005). Esu (2004) discoursed that teaching, by its nature requires a variety of methods to facilitate teaching/learning in the class and to develop the child’s knowledge and understanding to the maximum.

Classroom management is the process of leading, directing, ordering or restraining of students in a class in a way that will lead to effective learning. Byrne, Hattie and Fraser (2001) observed that 8

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students will perform best in a controlled atmosphere that is conducive to academic and social needs of the students. The atmosphere in the classroom needs to be relaxed, free from threats and anxiety, non-competitive and thought provoking to allow students participate and enjoy the lesson. Under such atmosphere the students’ interest in and attitude towards the subject taught could be enhanced. Isangedighi (2007) stated that disciplined behavior in the class is the child’s ability to exercise self-control under a given classroom condition. Udofot (1995) explained that while the classroom serves as a theatre stage for learning, the prevailing management and discipline are strong determinants of successful learning and commensurate outputs. Thus, the goal of effective classroom management is to have students display appropriate behaviour during class activities in order to enhance the teaching and learning process that can lead to the attainment of set objectives. Teacher’s characteristics as measured by their ability, knowledge and skills, is therefore a basis for the outcomes of learning and relative to students’ attitudes towards Mathematics.

The research aimed to develop a clear understanding and basis of the characteristics of teachers with relation to the attitude of the students toward learning mathematics. The researcher considered observable traits of teacher that are judged by students, these are: knowledge of the subject matter, communication ability, teaching method, and classroom management skills. Professional teachers should have the basic knowledge of the subject matter, which has to be fully understand and linked it to other disciplines and application to real world situations. Communication ability of teachers can be evident if he can receive information, understand and synthesize and express it to the class that everyone can comprehend. Teaching method is the ability of teacher to use approaches and strategies depending on that type of students he dealt. Classroom management skill of a teacher is why the lesson runs smoothly in the classroom.

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Methodology The researchers utilized the descriptive method of research using questionnaire as the main instrument in data gathering. This is the most appropriate method to be employed in this study in as much as it aims to find relationship exists between the teacher’s characteristics and student’s attitude towards mathematics. The descriptive research attempts to describe, explain and interpret conditions of the present i.e. “what is’. The purpose of a descriptive research is to examine a phenomenon that is occurring at a specific place(s) and time. A descriptive research is concerned with conditions, practices, structures, differences or relationships that exist, opinions held, processes that are going on or trends that are evident. Descriptive method assists the researcher in knowing how to accomplish our desired purposes in the shortest available time. Moreover, descriptive studies have been used in many areas of investigation for the reason that they apply to varied kinds of problems (Sevilla, et. al., 1988). The researchers utilized the adapted survey-questionnaires intended for the traits of the teachers and for the students’ attitudes towards Mathematics. The questionnaire for teacher was adapted from the “Qualities of Effective Teachers” by James Stronge. While the questionnaire for students was adapted from “The Attitudes toward Mathematics Inventory”, created by Tapia and Marsh (2004) was based on the Fennema-Sherman instrument, with some items eliminated in order to focus on only six factors (Confidence, Anxiety, Value, Enjoyment, Motivation, and Parent/teacher expectations). The original Fennema-Sherman Attitude Scales (1976) were designed to measure the attitudes and beliefs of secondary students. They consist of a group of nine instruments: (1) Attitude Towards Success in Mathematics Scale, (2) Mathematics as a Male Domain Scale, (3) and (4) Mother/Father Scale, (5) Teacher Scale, (6) Confidence in Learning Mathematics Scale, (7) Mathematics Anxiety Scale, (8) Effectance Motivation Scale in Mathematics, and (9) Mathematics Usefulness Scale. The prepared instrument upon 10

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checking of the research adviser was tried out to the advisory class of the researcher in which he is teaching fourth year Mathematics.

This is to ensure that the directions and every item in the surveyquestionnaire were clear and easy to follow and comprehend.

Items which seemed to be off-tangent, irrelevant and not clear were omitted or modified. The data were treated using descriptive and inferential statistical tools.

Results and Discussion Fifteen (15) Math teachers out of 69 or 21.74% were teaching mathematics for four years now; fourteen (14) teachers for 20 – 24 years now; and some were in the service teaching mathematics for over 29 years now. Most Mathematics teachers were baccalaureate degree holders (47.83%) in Secondary Education, Elementary Education, BS Math, Engineering, Industrial Education and Business Administration. Some (23.19 %) were still completing their Masterate degree; and some (13) were masterate graduates; and others (3) were doctorate degree holders. Majority (94.20%) were Mathematics majors; and few were drafting (2.90%), and accounting (2.90) majors. Majority (62.32%) of the teachers were Teacher I; seven (7) were Teacher II; eight (8) were Teacher III; six (6) were Master Teacher I; and five (5) were Master Teacher II. Dominantly (40) have attended the division level seminars, followed by international level seminars. Unfortunately, there were teachers who have not attended any Mathematics-related seminars for the past 3 years.

The students rated their Mathematics teachers (strongly agree) relative to the scale “Teacher as a Person” particularly in maintaining confidential trust and respect (4.87). The overall mean was 4.60. The traits of the Math teachers in relations to classroom management and organization were assessed “Strongly Agree”.

Evidently, the teachers encourage interactions among students in the class (4.85). The overall weighted mean was 4.64. All the items related to organizing and orienting for instructions were rated 11

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“strong agree”. Lesson plans included activities and strategies to engage students of various ability levels got the highest mean of 4.75. The grand mean was 4.69.

The implementation of instruction was rated ‘strongly agree” by the students. The teachers used a variety of activities and strategies to engage students” and provided feedback with a mean of 4.74. The overall weighted mean was 4.65. The teacher’s traits relative to monitoring students’ progress and potential were rated “strongly agree”. The Math teacher’s documented students’ progress and achievement with a weighted mean of 4.80. The overall weighted mean was 4.63. The level of agreement of students regarding the practice of teachers’ professionalism was rated “strongly agree”. It indicated that have attended and participated on faculty meetings (4.88), and performed assigned duties. The overall weighted mean of the scale was 4.79.

The confidence level of students towards Mathematics was moderately high with a computed mean of 3.28. The anxiety level of students towards Mathematics is moderately high with a computed mean of 3.13. The students moderately valued Mathematics as a subject with a computed mean of 3.36. The students highly enjoyed Mathematics as a subject with a computed mean of 3.67. The students were moderately motivated to study Mathematics as evidenced by the computed mean of 3.28. The attitude of the students towards their Mathematics teacher was relatively high (positive) with a computed mean of 3.53.

Teachers’ traits were highly correlated with students’ confidence (0.73); enjoyment (0.79); and motivation (0.84) to learn the subject. Moreover, teachers’ traits are moderately correlated with students’ anxiety (0.52); and value of Mathematics (0.63). There was a significant relationship between teachers’ traits and students’ attitudes towards Mathematics.

A small number of studies suggest that teacher experience effects may be evident for a longer period of time. Murnane & Phillips (2011) state that experience had a significant positive effect on student achievement among teachers during their first 12

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seven years of teaching. Ferguson (2010) reveals that at the high school level, students taught by teachers with more than nine years of experience had significantly higher test scores than students whose teachers had five to nine years of experience. Rivers & Sanders (2002) suggest that teacher’ effectiveness increases dramatically each year during the first ten years of teaching”. In the extreme case, Clotfelter et al., (2007) found evidence of growing teacher effectiveness out to 20 or more years in their analyses of teacher data, although more than half of the gains in teacher effectiveness occurred during the first few years of teaching.

Stronge et al. (2007) assert a positive relationship between teachers' verbal ability and composite student achievement, verbal ability has been considered an indicator of teacher quality. The basic logic is that teachers rely on talk to teach (explaining, questioning, and providing directions). What verbal ability means and how to measure it, it turns out, are not straightforward. Darling – Hammond (2008) defines well qualified teacher as one who was fully certified and held the equivalent of a major in the field being taught. Although the formal qualification of teachers is an important indicator for their knowledge and competence in teaching, it has only limited utility in analyzing how well prepared teachers are for what they have to teach in schools. More detailed knowledge of the courses they have taken during their training needs to be compared to the actual content and skills required to teach the high school’s curriculum.

Ruthland & Bremer (2012) refer to teacher qualification in two ways - traditional and alternative qualification routes.

Traditional certification is when an individual completes an undergraduate degree or post graduate program in education.

Alternative routes of certification are based on coursework in pedagogy and subject area without a degree in education. Hardy & Smith (2006) cite short term activities such as mentoring, peer evaluations and workshops as ways other than formal qualifications for improving teaching. More often graduates teachers with first degree content go into teaching if they cannot 13

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find another job right away. Although hey often get somewhat lower salary than a fully qualified teacher; they choose not to enroll in the one year post- graduate professional training and therefore lack a basic foundation for teaching. Wilson et al. (2001) suggest that even with the shortcomings of current teacher education and licensing, fully prepared and certified teachers are more successful with students than teachers without this preparation. Ashton (1996) notes that teachers with regular state certification receive higher supervisor ratings and ranks and student achievement than teachers who do not meet standards, but this observation was based on data with virtually no statistical controls having been imposed. In spite of the quantity of research on the benefits of teacher certification and ranking for student learning, little of the past research exercised controls over student “inputs” that would give the critical reader confidence in the findings. Laczko & Berliner (2001) assert that the impact of certification and ranking status on student achievement. Information included academic rank, the school where they were currently teaching, the grade level taught, the teacher’s certification status, highest degree earned, date and institution where it was achieved, age, and number of years teaching experience. Akinsolu (2010) asserts that availability of qualified teachers determined the performance of students in schools. Coonen (2007) emphasizes that teachers involved in in-service training were more effective in classrooms as compared to teachers who had not undergone training. Wirth & Perkins (2013) indicate that teacher’s proper training and attitude contributed significantly to student attention in classrooms whereas Adesoji & Olatunbosun (2008) illustrates that student attitude was related to teacher characteristics and proper orientation and training. This therefore meant that teacher’s attitude directly affected students’ attitude. On teacher personality, Adu & Olatundun (2007) contend that teachers’ characteristics are strong determinants of students’ performance in secondary schools.

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Teachers attendance of in – service training are one of the indicators of experience. Teachers’ motives to attend in-service training can be manifold e.g. increase in salary, career planning, keeping up with developments, filling in lacunae, removing insecurity and meeting colleagues. In the Science Education Project (SEP), the objectives were mainly formulated by the developers after having consulted various experts who had experience with Education. The teachers in this program had been and did not have any experience with practical work. Only in a later stage of their inservice training course they had a better idea of the possible content and methods, did formulating objectives of their own lessons become part of the program (Fullan, 2012).

Therefore, the more the teachers know about students, the better the teachers can connect with them and the more likely they will be able to benefit from the teachers’ experience in reconstructing their world. The knowledge that teachers need about students in order to connect with them is gained through interaction. For many reasons, measuring the real impact of experience on a teacher’s effectiveness is complex, more so than measuring any other teacher attribute. Consequently, many wellconstructed research attempts to interpret the relationship between experience and effectiveness have produced varying results that reveal no particular pattern. Murnane (2011) found that teacher effectiveness improves rapidly over the first three years of teaching and reaches its highest point between the third and fifth year but found no substantial improvement after year five.

Nations (1962) defines teacher as a person, develops understanding for the others, understanding of himself, and satisfying relationship through perspective interaction with others in many situations. He grows by becoming aware of the strengths, weaknesses, needs and desires of others. The teacher as a professional person, is strengthened by improving; (a) his knowledge of the subject matter, the techniques and the processes of the inquiry in which he guides his learners; (b) his knowledge of the learning process; and (c) knowledge of his teaching techniques.

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Moreover, Adeogun (2013) opined that the quality of the educational system depends on the quality of its teaching staff and that a school without human resources may not to be able to achieve the goal and objectives of the educational system. Adesina (2011) also noted that teachers are the major indicator and determinant of quality education. Highly professional teachers, who are dedicated, are needed in schools. It has been established that there is high correlation between what teachers know and what they teach. Thus the ability to teach effectively depends on the teachers’ knowledge and knowledge occurs in a variety of forms. Teacher effectiveness is impeded if the teacher is unfamiliar with the body of knowledge taught and the teachers’ effectiveness is subject-specific. The implication of this for teachers is that they must thoroughly understand the content of what they teach. The teacher whose understanding of topic is thorough use clearer language and they provide better explanation than those whose background is weaker. The way the students perceive the teachers in terms of their (teachers) knowledge of content of subject matter may significantly affect the student’s attitudes and academic performance.

Attitude of some teachers to work has been attributed to poor attitudes and academic performance of students. According to Eggen and Kauchak (2011), positive teachers attitude are fundamental to effective teaching. They identified a number of teachers attitude that will facilitate a caring and supportive classroom environment, they are: enthusiasm, caring, firm, democratic practices to promote students responsibility, use time for lesson effectively, have established efficient routines, and interact freely with students and providing motivation for them.

Fisher et al (2011) also noted that high level of learning occurs and learners feel good about themselves and the materials they are learning when teachers use instructional time efficiently. The way teachers outreach with student’s influences their attitude toward school and their academic performance. How students perceive their teacher attitudes to teaching in the classroom will be 16

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measured in this study Qualification, Teaching experience and Teaching skills are variables noted to have effect on student academic performances.

Ehindero and Ajibade (2010) asserted that “students, who are curious stakeholders in educational enterprise, have long suspected and speculated that some of their teachers lack the necessary professional qualifications. That is, skills, techniques, strategies required to communicate concepts, ideas, principles in a way that would facilitate effective learning.� They believed that these deficiencies contribute significantly to the growing rate of failure and subsequent drop out of students in secondary institutions. These observations by stakeholders necessitate the need to investigate the effects of teacher’s characteristics such as professional qualification, teaching skill and techniques necessary for teaching and learning in secondary schools on academic performance of students. Effective teachers create focused and nurturing classrooms that result in increased student learning (Marzano et al., 2003; Shellard & Protheroe, 2000). These teachers teach and rehearse rules and procedures with students, anticipate students' needs, possess a plan to orient new students, and offer clear instructions to students (McLeod et al., 2003; Emmer et al., 1980). They use a minimum number of rules to ensure safety and productive interaction in the classroom, and they rely on routines to maintain a smoothly running classroom (McLeod et al. 2003).

In fact, it has been noted that classroom management skills are essential in a classroom for a teacher to get anything done. In some ways, classroom management is like salt in a recipe; when it is present it is not noticed, but when it is missing, diners will ask for it.

Furthermore, classroom management is frequently conceptualized as a matter of control rather than as a dimension of curriculum, instruction, and overall classroom climate (Duke, 2011). As our greatest concern has been to try to avoid prescriptive behavior in its general sense within classrooms, there is, in fact, a certain degree of tension and misattribution between flexibility of 17

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control and prescriptive attitudes in the classroom atmosphere.

Therefore, we have to persuade ourselves that not everyone will express things in the same words or perceive them in the same way, and that not everyone will move at the same rate or in the same direction. Based on the findings of the research conducted by Borphy (2008), it is highly probable that teachers who approach classroom management, as a process of establishing and maintaining effective learning environments, and as a multi-lateral ambience, tend to be more successful than others who place more emphasis on their roles as authority figures or disciplinarians since classrooms are composed of numerously different personal views, characteristics, ethics and values.

Thus, classroom climate influenced by the teacher has a major impact on pupils’ motivation and attitude towards learning, that is to say, for teachers, having been equipped with pedagogical and professional characteristics would not be enough to establish a positive, learnable, and teachable classroom climate. Specifically, the factors that best facilitate student learning are considered to be the ones that are described as being purposeful, task-oriented, relaxed, warm, supportive, and has a sense of order and humor in an integrated sense (Guerrero, 2008). He also speaks positively of other factors facilitating students learning in a positive manner such as; mutual respect and rapport etc. all of which stem from conveying to pupils that you understand, share, and value their feelings as individuals on a whole range of matters and experiences, academic, social and personal. Such a climate fosters learning and motivation of students and their attitudes toward learning process. Furthermore, Research indicates that certain personality characteristics influence student evaluations of teachers.

From the students' points of view, teacher-expressive characteristics such as warmth, enthusiasm, and extroversion apparently separate effective from ineffective teachers (Basow, 2007; Best & Addison, 2007; and Radmacher & Martin, 2011) 18

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Reasoning in this way, out of three generally accepted characteristics of teachers, namely; professional, pedagogical, and personal, the last one of the three will illuminate, as a neglected vision to follow the end product-shapeable students, the ways of reaching at a better learning atmosphere as well as self-assured students. A combination of my experiences and some other colleagues’ directed me to study what the teacher was like as an individual and how influential it is over students’ attitudes towards learning and the degree of their engagement with learning. The proposition in mind was that pupils'. According to Broke and Stone (2010) (quoted by E Mulyasa), a teacher’s competence and professionalism is descriptive of qualitative nature of teacher behavior appearing to be entirely meaningful. Broke defines a teacher’s competence and professionalism is the ability of a teacher to responsibly perform his or her duties appropriately.

Another opinion is posed by Sahertian. According to Sahertian (2009), there are three definitions of a teacher’s competence. (1) A teacher’s competence is the ability of a teacher to realize the planned educational aim. (2) A teacher’s competence is the real characteristic of a teacher’s personality showing the way to create fixed educational purpose. (3) A teacher’s competence is the conditioned behavior to reach the educational purpose. Also, Trianto (2009) defines that a teacher’s competence and professionalism as aptitude, ability and skill owned by someone having a job to teach a student to have exalted personality like the educational purpose. It is explained that competence is a set of knowledge, skill, and behavior which must be owned, perceived, and mastered by a teacher in undertaking her/his professional duty. Personality teachers have contributed enough to the success of education, especially in learning activities. Dealing with the statement, W. S Winkelalso found that teachers' competence personality influence student motivation. With the following statement: "Typical personality traits of teachers, for the most part, seen in the way he does his job. This fact is increasingly true in the work of a teacher who educates young people in schools. Conscious 19

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or not his presence in the classroom, teachers have an impact on the development of students including motivation in learning. " Teachers who have a good personality and professional conduct, it fosters motivation in students. Many students were excited, passionate, and fun to learn with a teacher because of the personality and conduct of the teacher are good and interesting.

But on the contrary there are also some students who feel discouraged, lazy, indifferent, sleepy, noisy, because of the teacher's personality is not good and not interesting. Motivation to learn can arise when a good response to the students' teachers, especially in terms of his personality. In other words, students will have a good response to the competence of the teacher's personality, if the teacher is showing a good person that deserves to be imitated by students, while teachers who show a lack of good personality and conduct, then this will lead to a negative response from students so that they are not motivated to learn.

Rusinov (2010) concluded that sometimes Math problems seem so hard, and student self-confidence is so low, that students start to complain about an instructor’s teaching style. In order to resolve this situation, he suggests that students need to focus more on solutions instead of problems and by doing that, students will raise their confidence in Mathematics. He also recommends the students to, ask more questions, and keep good class notes for further review of the problems and solutions that were done in class. They should contact their professor and ask questions outside of class about mathematical concepts and problem solving strategies. They should study and practice, because by studying more, students will empower themselves with knowledge. By becoming more knowledgeable, students will become more confident.

Moreover, self-efficacy (SE) beliefs constitute a key component in Bandura’s social cognitive theory. The construct signifies a person’s beliefs, concerning her or his ability to successfully perform a given task or behavior. It was found that SE is a major determinant of the choices that individuals make, the 20

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effort they expend, the perseverance they exert in the face of difficulties, and the thought patterns and emotional reactions they experience (Bandura, 1986). Furthermore, SE beliefs play an essential role in achievement motivation, interact with selfregulated learning processes, and mediate academic achievement (Pintrich, 1999). Mathematics anxiety has been defined as feelings of tension and anxiety that interfere with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations Math anxiety can cause one to forget and lose one’s self-confidence (Tobias, S., 1993).

Despite its importance, in daily life, mathematics is often viewed as a difficult topic. Such perception is in part, due to the nature of Math. However, it also has to do with preconceived notions about mathematics and the anxiety individuals have for mathematics (Norwook, 2004). A remarkable body of research has been accumulated on mathematics anxiety. There have been a variety of definitions of what constitutes mathematics anxiety.

Richardson and Suinn view it as feelings of tension and anxiety that interfere with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations (Gierl & Bisanz, 2005). Mathematics anxiety has to do with a sense of discomfort while required to work on mathematical problems and with fear and apprehension to specific math-related situations (D’Ailly & Bergering, 2012).

Mathematics anxiety exists in some adults (Perry, 2004), including teachers (Haylock, 2003), and is influenced by people’s beliefs (Tobias, 2008). It has been described both as an irrational phobia (Hodges, 2013), and a rational fear rooted in real experience of failure and inadequacy (Perry, 2004). Associated emotional factors include ‘anger’ (Cherkas, 2012), ‘tension’ (Richardson and Suinn, 2012), ‘guilt’ (Cockcroft, 2012) and ‘panic, dislike, anxiety, bewilderment, fear, fright, terror, stupidity, frustration, and a fear of looking stupid’ (Buxton, 2011).

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Mathematics anxiety can influence students’ mathematical performance physically by affecting memory (Kogelman and Warren, 2008) and creating nervousness and an inability to concentrate (Tobias, 2008).

Cockcroft (2012) found people developing coping strategies for everyday life, and Brady and Bowd (2005) describe people avoiding mathematics where possible.

Being ‘no good’ at mathematics is often admitted (Haylock, 2003), and may be passed on to students by their parents (Furner and Duffy, 2002). Beliefs leading to mathematics anxiety include that a ‘mathematical mind’ is needed (Furner and Duffy, 2002); that the left/right brain is dominant (Austin and Wadlington, 2012); that to be good at the arts means one cannot be good at mathematics (Tobias, 2008); that one must be logical as opposed to intuitive (Frank, 2010) and that there is a set right or wrong way to do mathematics (Cherkas, 2012) with an exact answer (Buxton, 2011).

The abstract nature of mathematics could be a cause of anxiety according to Orton and Frobisher (2006). A common belief appears to exist that rules must be applied in a set way that must be remembered, dependent on previous understanding (Cornell, 2009), with a lack of creativity in reaching answers (Austin and Wadlington, 2012). Students can be prevented from understanding by being taught mathematics without an investigative, open-ended approach (Oxford and Anderson, 2005). If mathematics is portrayed as putting procedure into practice, then students may believe it involves following rules to find the right answer and such learning by rote can lead to mathematics anxiety (Cornell, 2009).

Conclusions and Recommendations Majority of the Mathematics teachers were newly hired, but some have been in the service for over 29 years now. Dominantly were Teacher I, bachelor’s degree holder and some were pursuing graduate studies in the area of specialization; and attended 22

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division level and international level seminars. There were still other teachers who have not attended any Mathematics-related seminars for the past 3 years. High positive traits of Mathematics teachers were remarkably evident relative to teacher as a person, classroom management and organization, organizing and orienting for instruction, implementing instruction, monitoring students’ progress and potentials, and teachers’ professionalism.

The students have moderately high confidence and anxiety levels, and value towards Mathematics. However, they highly enjoyed the subject and motivated to study. Moreover, they have relatively high (positive) regards to their teachers. There was a significant relationship between teachers’ traits and students’ attitudes towards Mathematics. Teachers’ traits significantly influenced students’ confidence, anxiety, value for Mathematics, enjoyment, motivation to learn; and attitude towards teacher. The findings implied that teacher characteristics and traits correlated with students’ attitudes towards Mathematics. Teachers’ traits such as teacher as a person, classroom management and organization, organizing and orienting for instruction, implementing instruction, monitoring student progress and potential and professionalism significantly influenced students’ confidence, anxiety, value for Mathematics, enjoyment, motivation to learn; and attitude towards teacher.

Thus, the school administration should provide assistance for continuous faculty development program to include attendance to graduate and post graduate studies in the area of specialization and Mathematics-related training and seminars at various levels.

The Mathematics teachers should continue portray positive traits and qualities as a person, classroom management and organization, organizing and orienting for instruction, implementing instruction, monitoring student progress and potential and professionalism. The students should enhance their confidence level and value for Mathematics. They should also continue high regards to their teachers, motivation and enjoyment towards learning the subject to lessen their anxieties in 23

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Mathematics. The administration should strictly and continuously monitor qualities of the deployed teachers and its correlates with students’ attitudes and behaviors towards Mathematics such as teacher as a person, classroom management and organization, organizing and orienting for instruction, implementing instruction, monitoring students’ progress and potentials, and teachers’ professionalism.The teachers should continue provide motivation and enjoyment in teaching Mathematics with the students. A parallel study should be conducted among private schools to further generalized the relationship of teachers’ qualities and students’ attitudes towards Mathematics for the improvement of instruction.

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