The relationship between grade 9 teacher's and learner's perceptions and attitudes with their mathematics achievement

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between South African Grade 9 teachers’ and learners’ perceptions and attitudes with their mathematics achievement. The study used a secondary analysis of the TIMSS 2015 mathematics data, guided by the conceptual framework model of Scheerens (2000). The quantitative data collected through teachers’ and learners’ responses to the questionnaire included teachers’ and learners’ attitudes and perceptions on mathematics achievement. Multi-level modelling was done using HLM software. The study revealed that learners that like learning mathematics and value mathematics outperform those who don’t like it and who don’t value it. It was also found that leaners that are confident in mathematics outperformed those who are not confident. An interesting finding was that teacher job satisfaction has no influence on the mathematics achievement of their learners. Another curious finding was that the level of learner engagement in the mathematics lesson also had no influence on their performance.