An Inquiry into Student Math Self-Efficacy, As Told from the Perspective of Ontario Secondary Teachers

Abstract

While the Growing Success document released by the Ontario Ministry of Education in 2010 demonstrates Ontario’s commitment to enhancing student learning through assessment, there has been little investigation into how it is being received among secondary math teachers, and what effect it has on students’ math self-efficacy. As an exploratory study, this study sought to better understand how Ontario secondary math school teachers are working to foster self-efficacy among their students through assessment methods. Through semi-structured interviews, teachers were found to understand student math self-efficacy to be intimately tied to student learning skills. With regards to assessment, formative feedback was identified by teachers as a means through which self-efficacy and learning skills could be fostered. Teachers also noted the importance of building positive student perceptions of assessment, and of teaching students to perceive failure in a productive light. These findings imply that teachers are moving away from the traditional use of assessment of learning, to include that of as and for learning. Furthermore, secondary teachers’ concerns about students’ abilities to self-assess and self-regulate their learning suggest that students are not being sufficiently equipped with these skills in their earlier years. In light of these findings, Ontario schools can work to improve student math self-efficacy by making greater efforts to foster learning skills among their students.